Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/captainwilliamki01abbo 



/ 




£V 



Pioneer kqd fWiot^ of Snjeritfk. 



By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. 



Each one Volume, i2mo., illustrated, $1,50. 



DANIEL BOONE, 

MILES STANDISH, 

FERDINAND DE SOTO, 

PETER STUYVESANT, 

KIT CARSON. 
DAVID CROCKETT, 

CAPT KIDD AND THE AM. BUCCANEERS. 
Other Volumes in preparation. 




rtri % vm:^ : -;& aL^ *>*rHf$ ■wmii'ii /*?, 



AMERICAN PIONEERS AND PATRIOTS. 



Captain William Kidd, 



OTHERS OF THE PIRATES OR BUCCANEERS WHO 

RAVAGED THE SEAS, THE ISLANDS, AND 

THE CONTINENTS OF AMERICA TWO 

HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 



BY 



JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. 



ILLUSTRATED, 






NEW YORK: 
DODD & MEAD, No. 762 BROADWAY. 

1874. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

DODD & MEAD, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 






/ 



) 



PREFACE, 



THERE can scarcely anything be found, in the 
literature of our language, more wild and wonderful, 
than the narrative contained in this volume. The 
extraordinary career of Captain Kidd, a New-York 
merchant, the demoniac feats of those fiends in 
human form, Bonnet, Barthelemy, and Lolonois; 
the romantic history of the innocent female pirate 
Mary Read, and of the termagant Anne Bonney ; 
the amazing career of Sir Henry Morgan, and the 
fanaticism of Montbar, scarcely surpassed by that 
of Mohammed or Loyola, combine in creating a 
story, which the imagination of Dickens or Dumas 
could scarcely rival. 

And yet these incidents seem to be well authen- 
ticated. The writer has drawn his facts from 
Esquemeling's Zee Roovers, Amsterdam, 4to, 1684; 
Oexemelin's Histoire des Aventuriers, i2mo, Paris, 



IV PREFACE. 

1688 ; Johnson's History of the Pirates, 2 vols., Lon- 
don, 1724 ; Thornbury's Monarchs of the Main, 3 vols., 
London, 1855; History of the Buccaneers of America, 
1 vol. 8vo, Boston, 1855 ; with many other pam- 
phlets, encyclopaedias, and secondary works. 

In exploring this hitherto almost unknown field 
of research, the writer has been as much surprised 
at the awful scenes which have opened before him, as 
any of his readers can be. There are but few think- 
ing men who will peruse this narrative, to whom the 
suggestion will not arise, " What a different world 
would this have been, and would it now be, were 
all its inhabitants conscientiously, prayerfully, with 
brotherly love striving to do right." And this is 
the religion of Jesus. He has taught us to pray, 
" Thy kingdom come on earth as in heaven." 

John S. C. Abbott. 

Fair Haven, Conn. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Origin of the Buccaneers. 

PAGE 

Renown of Captain Kidd. — Wild Legends, — Demands of Spain. 
— Opposition of the Maritime Powers. — The Rise of the 
Buccaneers. — The Pirates' Code. — Remonstrance of Spain. 
— Reply of France and England. — Confession of a Bucca- 
neer. — Adventures of Peter the Great. , . . ' . . 9 

CHAPTER II. 
William Kidd becomes a Pirate. 

Ravages of the Pirates. — The King's Interview with Earl Bello- 
mont. — William Kidd, the New York Merchant. — His Com- 
mission. — Sailing of the Adventure. — Recruiting in New 
York. — Circuitous Trip to Madagascar. — Perils and Suffer- 
ings. — Madagascar the Pirates' Home. — Murmurings of the 
Crew. — Kidd reluctantly turns Pirate. — His Repulses, and 
his Captures. . . 29 

CHAPTER' III. 

Piratic Adventures. 

Audacity of Kidd. — Fate of the November. — Kidd kills William 
Moore. — The Renowned Ballad. — Kidd's Compunctions. — 
Kidd at Madagascar. — Piratic Carousals. — The Artificial 
Hell. — Kidd's Return to the West Indies. — Exaggerated 
Reports of Avery. — His wretched Career, and wretched 
End. 51 



VI . CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 
Arrest, Trial, and Condemnation of Kidd. 

PAGB 

Appalling Tidings. — Trip to Curacoa. — Disposal of the Quedagh 
Merchant. — Purchase of the Antonio. — Trembling Approach 
toward New York. — Measures for the Arrest of Kidd. — He 
enters Delaware Bay. — Touches at Oyster Bay and Block 
Island. — Communications with the Government. — Sails for 
Boston. — His Arrest. — Long Delays. — Public Rumors. — His 
Trial and Condemnation 75 

CHAPTER V. 

Kidd, and Stede Bonnet. 

The Guilt of Kidd. — Rumors of Buried Treasure. — Mesmeric 
Revelation. — Adventures of Bradish. — Strange Character of 
Major Bonnet. — His Piracies. — Encounters. — Indications 
of Insanity. — No Temptation to Turn Pirate. — Blackbeard. 
— Bonnet Deposed. . . 98 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Adventures of Edward Teach, or Blackbeard. 

Seizure of the Protestant Caesar. — The Piratic Squadron. — Vil- 
lany of the Buccaneers. — The Atrocities of Blackbeard. — ■ 
Illustrative Anecdotes. — Carousals on Shore. — Alleged Com- 
plicity with the Governor. — Hiding-place near Ocracoke 
Inlet. — Arrangements for his Capture. — Boats sent from two 
Men-of-War.— Bloody Battle.— The Death of the Pirate.— 
His Desperate and Demoniac Character. . . . .110 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Close of Stede Bonnet's Career. 

Bonnet's Abandonment by Blackbeard. — Avails Himself of the 
King's Pardon. — Takes Commission as a Privateer. — Res- 
cues Blackbeard's Pirates. — Piratic Career. — Enters Cape 



CONTENTS. vii 



Fear River fcr Repairs. — Captured by Colonel Rhet. — The 
Conflict. — Escapes from Prison. — The Pursuit, and Trial 
and Sentence. ......... 125 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Portuguese Barthelemy. 

Commencement of his Career. — Bold Capture. — Brutality of the 
Pirates. — Reverses and Captivity. — Barthelemy doomed to 
Die. — His Escape. — Sufferings in the Forest. — Reaches Gulf 
Triste. — Hardening Effect of his Misfortunes. — His new 
Piratic Enterprise. — Wonderful Success. — The Tornado.— 
Impoverishment and Ruin 139 

CHAPTER IX. 

Francis Lolonois. 

Early Life of Lolonois. — His Desperate Character. — Joins the 
Buccaneers. — His Fiend-like Cruelty. — The Desperadoes 
Rally around Him. — Equips a Fleet. — Captures Rich Prizes. 
— Plans the Sack of Maracaibo. — The Adventurous- Voyage. 
— Description of Venezuela. — Atrocities at Maracaibo and 
Gibraltar. — Doom of the Victors. ..... 151 

CHAPTER X. 

The Plunder ; the Carousal; and the New Enterprise. 

Gibraltar in Ashes. — The Return to Maracaibo. — Division of the 
Plunder. — Peculiar Scene. — Reception of the Pirates at Tor- 
tuga. — Fiend-like Carousal. — The Pirates Reduced to Beg- 
gary. — Lolonois's New Enterprise. — The " Furious Calm." 
— Days of Disaster. — Ravaging the Coast. — Capture of San 
Pedro 170 

CHAPTER XL 

The End of Lolonois 's Career. 

The Pirates' Perfidy. — Capture of a Spanish Ship. — Misery of the 
Pirates. — Desertion of Vauclin. — The Shipwreck. — Life upon 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

the Island. — Expedition to Nicaragua. — Its utter Failure. — 
Ferocity of the Indians. — Exploring the River. — The Re- 
treat. — Coasting to Darien. — Capture and Death of Lolonois. 
—Fate of the Remnants 1 86 

CHAPTER XII. 

The Female Pirate, Mary Read. 

Testimony of Charles Johnson. — Marriage of Mary Read's 
Mother. — Singular Adventure. — Reasons for Disguising her 
Daughter. — Early Training of Mary as a Boy. — She Enlists 
on board a Man-of-War. — The Character she Developed. — 
Enters the Army. — Skill and Bravery. — Falls in Love with 
a Fleming. — Reveals her Sex. — The Marriage. — Happy 
Days. — Death of her Husband. — Adversity. — Resumes Male 
Attire 201 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Anne Bonny, the Female Pirate. 

Rackam the Pirate. — Anne Bonny his Wife. — Her Reasons for 
Assuming a Boy's Dress. — Infamous Character of Rackam. 
— Anne falls in Love with Mary. — Curious Complications. — 
The Duel. — Chivalry of Frank. — The Capture.— The Trial. 
— Testimony of the Artist. — Death of Mary Read. — Rackam 
Dies on the Scaffold. 214 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Sir Henry Morgan. 

His Origin. — Goes to the West Indies. — Joins the Buccaneers. — 
Meets Mansvelt the Pirate. — Conquest of St. Catharine. — 
Piratic Colony there. — Ravaging the Coast of Costa Rica. 
— Sympathy of the Governor of Jamaica. — Death of Mans- 
velt. — Expedition of Don John. — The Island Recaptured by 
the Spaniards. — Plans of Morgan. — His Fleet. — The Sack 
of Puerto Principe. — Horrible Atrocities. — Retreat of the 



CONTENTS. IX 

PACK 

Pirates. — The Duel. — They Sail for Puerto Velo. — Conquest 
of the City. — Heroism of the Governor. .... 225 



CHAPTER XV. 
The Capture of Puerto Velo, and its Results. 

The Torture. — Sickness and Misery. — Measures of the Governor 
of Panama. — The Ambuscade. — Awful Defeat of the Spa- 
niards. — Ferocity of the Pirates. — Strange Correspondence. 
— Exchange of Courtesies. — Return to Cuba, and Division 
of the Spoil. — Wild Orgies at Jamaica.— Complicity of the 
British Government with the Pirates. — The New Enterprise. 
— Arrival of the Oxford. — Destruction of the Cerf Volant. — 
Rendezvous at Samona. . 246 

CHAPTER XVI. 

2'he Expedition to Maracaibo. 

The Delay at Ocoa. — Hunting Excursions. — The Repulse. — 
Cities of Venezuela. — The Plan of Morgan. — Suggestions of 
Pierre Picard. — Sailing of the Expedition. — They Touch 
at Oruba. — Traverse Venezuela. — Enter Lake Maracaibo. — 
Capture of the Fort. — The City Abandoned. — Atrocities of 
the Pirates. ......... 260 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Adventures on the Shores of Lake Maracaibo. 

Preparations for the Defence of Gibraltar. — The Hidden Ships. — 
The Hiding-place of the Governor and the Women. — Dis- 
aster and Failure. — Capture of the Spanish Ships. — The Re- 
treat Commenced. — Peril of the Pirates. — Singular Cor- 
respondence. — Strength of the Spanish Armament. — The 
Public Conference of the Pirates. — The Naval Battle. — The 
Fire-Ship. — Wonderful Achievement of the Pirates. . . 273 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
A New Expedition Planned. 

PAGE 

The Threat to Espinosa. — Adroit Stratagem. — Wonderful Es- 
cape. — The Storm. — Revelry at Jamaica.— History of His 
paniola. — Plan of a New Expedition. — The Foraging Ships. 
— Morgan's Administrative Energies. — Return of the For- 
agers. — Rendezvous at Cape Tiburon. — Magnitude and Ar- 
mament cf the Fleet. — Preparations to Sail. . . . 290 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Capture of St. Catherine and Chagres. 

The Defences at St. Catherine. — Morgan's Strategy. — The Mid- 
night Storm. — Deplorable Condition of the Pirates. — The 
Summons to Surrender. — Disgraceful Conduct of the Spanish 
Commander. — The Advance to Chagres. — Incidents of the 
Battle. — The Unexpected Victory. — Measures of Morgan. . 305 

CHAPTER XX. 

The March from Chagres to Panama. 

Preparations to Ascend the River. — Crowding of the Boats. — The 
Bivouac at Bracos. — Sufferings from Hunger. — The Pathless 
Route.— The Boats Abandoned. — Light Canoes Employed. 
— Abandoned Ambuscades. — Painful Marches, Day by Day. 
— The Feast on Leathern Bags. — Murmurs and Contentions. 
— The Indians Encountered. — Struggling through the 
Forest. — The Conflagration at Santa Cruz. — Battle and 
Skirmishes.— First Sight of Panama. — Descent into the 
Plain. — Feasting. . . . . . . . .319 

CHAPTER XXI. 

The Capture of Panama. 

First Sight of the City. — The Spanish Scouts Appear. — Morgan's 
Advance. — Character of the Country. — Fears of the Spa- 



CONTENTS. XI 

PAGE 

niards. — Removal of Treasure. — Capture of the City. — The 
Poisoned Wine. — Magnificent Scenery of the Bay. — Descrip- 
tion of Panama and its Surroundings. — Wealth of the City. 
— Scenes of Crime and Cruelty. ..... 335 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Return from Panama. 

Return of the Explorers. — The Beautiful Captive. — Sympathy 
in her behalf. — Embarrassments of Morgan. — Inflexible 
Virtue of the Captive. — The Conspiracy. — Efficiency of 
Morgan. — His Obduracy. — The Search of the Pirates. — 
The Return March. — Morgan Cheats the Pirates. — Runs 
Away 349 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Montbar the Fanatic. 

Partial Solution of a Mystery. — Montbar's Birth. — His Education 
and Delusions. — Anecdote of the Dramatic Performance. — 
Montbar Runs Away from Home. — Enters the Navy. — His 
Ferocious Exploits. — Joins the Buccaneers. — Desperate Bat- 
tles on the Land and on the Sea. — His Final Disappearance. 360 



Captain Kidd. 



CHAPTER I. 

Origin of the Buccaneers. 

Renown of Captain Kidd. — Wild Legends. — Demands of Spain. — 
Opposition of the Maritime Powers. — The Rise of the Buc 
caneers. — The Pirates' Code. — Remonstrance of Spain. — Reply 
of France and England. — Confession of a Buccaneer. — Adven 
tures of Peter the Great. 

There are but few persons, in the United 
States, who have not heard the name of the re- 
nowned pirate, Captain Kidd. There are also but 
few to be found who have any intelligent conception 
of his wild and guilty career. The banks of the 
Hudson, the islands scattered through the Sound 
which skirts the southern New-England coast, and 
the wild rivers and craggy harbors which fringe the 
rugged shores of Maine, are all rich with legends of 
i* 



IO CAPTAIN KIDD. 

the exploits and hiding-places of this notorious 
buccaneer. 

Thousands of fanatical people have employed 
themselves in digging among the rocks and sands, 
in search of treasure of gold and jewels supposed 
to have been buried, in iron-bound chests s by this 
chief of outlaws. It was well known that he had 
plundered many a rich Spanish galleon, laden with 
golden coin, bound to or from the colonies. Many 
a Spanish lady had been compelled to walk blind- 
folded the awful plank, until she was jostled into 
the sea, while her chests of golden ingots and dia- 
monds fell into the hands of brutal assassins. 

It was not always easy for the pirates to dispose 
of these treasures. They were sometimes pursued 
by men-of-war. Doubtless, as a measure of safety, 
they did "at times bury their spoil, intending at a 
convenient hour to return and reclaim it. And it 
can hardly be questioned that, in some cases, pur- 
sued, harassed, cut up, they never did return. There- 
fore it may be that there is treasure still hidden in 
some secluded spot, which may remain, through all 
coming ages, unless by some accident discovered. 
This belief has, in bygone days, nerved many a 
treasure-seeker to months of toil, all along our north- 
ern coast, from Passamaquoddy Bay to the Jerseys. 

Half a century ago, when superstition exerted 



THE BUCCANEERS. II 

much more powerful sway than now, the wildest 
stories were told, around the fireside, of the com- 
plicity of the robber with the Archfiend himself, and 
of the agency of the Prince of the Power of the Air 
in protecting his subjects. Hundreds of parties, 
equipped with hazel rods, whose dip should guide 
them to the treasure, and with spades to dig, have 
gone to the most lonely spots at dead of night, in 
search of these riches. It was believed that not a 
word must be spoken, and particularly that Satan 
was so jealous, that if the Divine name were uttered, 
some terrible doom would befall them. 

The writer remembers hearing, sixty years ago, 
at the kitchen fireside, many of these wondrous sto- 
ries. One or two may be given in illustration of 
them all. A fortune-teller had told some men where 
Captain Kidd had buried a chest. They were to go 
to the spot, in the darkness of a moonless midnight. 
. Not one word was to be spoken. A lantern, dimly 
burning, was to guide their steps. One carrying a 
hazel rod was to lead the party of four. When they 
reached the precise spot the hazel rod would bend 
directly down to indicate it. By digging they 
would find, five feet beneath the surface, an oaken 
chest, bound with iron, filled with doubloons. 

They obeyed all the directions implicitly. The 
spot was found. In silence and with energy they 



12 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

plied their spades. At the depth of five feet they 
struck the chest. There it was, beyond all question, 
in its massive strength of oak and iron. The size of 
the chest and the difficulty with which it could be 
moved, proved that they had come upon an amount 
of treasure which would enrich them all beyond the 
dreams of romance. One thoughtlessly, in the ex- 
cess of his excitement, exclaimed, " Thank God ! " 
In an instant there was a flash of lightning which 
blinded them all ; a peal of thunder which stunned 
them all. Those in the pit were violently thrust 
out, and every one was thrown helpless and sense- 
less upon the ground. 

After a time they recovered one by one. The 
darkness was like that of "Egypt, which could be felt. 
The rain was falling in torrents. Their pit was en- 
tirely closed up, and replaced by a ledge of solid 
granite. Terrified, they crept to their homes, fear- 
ing ever again to seek the treasure which the pirate, 
as an emissary of Satan, had seized with bloody 
hands, and with bloody hands had buried. 

Again, there was a young woman who had a 
sacred stone into which she looked and saw whatever 
she wished to have revealed. She could read the 
fortunes of others. She could foresee all future 
events. She could reveal any secrets of the past. 
Into this mysterious crystal she gazed, and saw a 



THE BUCCANEERS. * 1 3 

small vessel, under an immense cloud of canvas, 
flying before a huge man-of-war. But the smaller 
vessel was the fleetest. The larger vessel was firing 
upon it with heavy cannon, and the balls were 
bounding over the waves. She looked upon the 
deck of the little schooner, and it was crowded 
with the fiercest-looking armed men. Among them 
stood a man, in rich uniform, with drawn sword, 
and pistols in his belt, who was evidently their leader. 
She at once recognized him as Captain Kidd. 

It was in the evening twilight. The pirate ran 
in at the mouth of the Kennebec River. The man- 
of-war could not venture to follow amid the rocks 
and shoals. The commander, however, felt that the 
pirate was caught in a trap and that he could not 
escape. He decided to lay off and on until morning, 
carefully watching the mouth of the river. Then he 
would send his war-boats thoroughly manned, and 
the pirates would soon swing at his yard-arms, and 
their treasures would be transferred to his chests 
and his ship's hold. 

Captain Kidd had a large amount of treasure on 
board his vessel, which he had plundered mainly 
from the rich argosies which carried on the com- 
merce between Spain and her colonies. At the 
same time he was not at all particular in his inquiries 
as to what nationality the ship belonged to, if the 



14 CAPTAIN klDD. 

cargo of goods or coin were valuable. His adven- 
turous sail ran along the shores of both the Indies, 
and all richly freighted ships he encountered were 
doomed. 

The swift-sailing schooner which had run into 
the mouth of the Kennebec was heavily laden 
with gold and silver coin, rich silks, and others of 
the most precious fabrics of the two Indies. To 
save these from capture, so the story goes, and to 
lighten his vessel, so as to be able to creep away 
over the- shallow waters out of reach of the man-of- 
war, he threw the heaviest and least valuable articles 
overboard. Then landing a portion of the crew in 
the night, he searched out a secluded spot, where he 
dug a deep hole, and placed in it an immense iron- 
bound hogshead. Here he carefully packed away 
his gold and silver coin in strong canvas bags. His 
silks and satins were wrapped in canvas envelopes, 
and then protected with tarred cloth, impervious to 
both air and moisture. Thus the cask soon held 
treasure amounting to countless thousands. This 
was carefully covered up and concealed, Captain 
Kidd taking notes which would enable him to find 
the place without difficulty. 

Then in the darkness he again spread his sails, 
and stealing out of one of the unfrequented mouths 
of the river, crept along the shore unseen, and turn- 



THE BUCCANEERS. 1 5 

ing his course south, was soon again engaged in his 
piratic cruise among the islands of the West Indies. 
He never returned to regain his treasure. 

The next morning the man-of-war sent up three 
boats well manned and armed to capture the pirate. 
But not the slightest vestige of his vessel could be 
found. It was believed that Satan had aided them 
to escape. Some of the sailors declared that in the 
night they had seen the schooner under full sail in 
the clouds, passing over their heads, and that they 
had heard shouts of merriment from the demoniac 
crew. 

The girl, looking into her enchanted stone, saw all 
this. She informed those inquiring of her, of the 
precise spot where the treasure was buried. To 
obtain it they must go at dead of night, and work 
in perfect silence. - The utterance of a single word 
would bring disaster upon all their efforts. 

They went, and worked with a will, in the dark- 
ness, by dim torchlight. Not a word was spoken. 
They reached the cask, spaded away the earth 
around it, and were just ready to open it and rifle 
it of its contents, when to their astonishment a little 
negro boy was seen sitting upon the head of the 
cask, entirely naked. One of them in his surprise 
thoughtlessly exclaimed, " Who are you ? " 

The spell was broken. Instantly one of the 



1 6 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

blackest of thunder-clouds enveloped them, with a 
tornado which wrecked the skies. Carousing fiends 
were seen with bat-like wings through the gloom. 
Shrieks of derisive laughter were heard. Every 
man was seized, and whirled through the air to dis- 
tances several miles apart. Awaking from stupor, 
terror-inspired, they with difficulty found their way 
to their homes. Upon subsequently revisiting the 
spot they found no traces of their labor. 

Such was the general character of the legends 
which were floating about very freely half a cen- 
tury ago. Captain Kidd was the hero of all these 
marvellous tales. It is not easy to account for 
the fact that his name should have attained such 
an ascendency over that of all other buccaneers. 
Though there was nothing so very remarkable in 
his achievements^ there was "something strange in 
the highest degree, in his partnership with men in 
England occupying the most exalted position in rank 
and power. 

After the discovery of the New World, Pope 
Alexander VI. issued a proclamation dividing all the 
newly discovered lands, in both the East and West 
Indies, between the crowns of Portugal and Spain, 
to the exclusion of all other powers. This bull, as 
it was called, excited great discontent .throughout 
all Christendom. This was nearly two hundred 



THE BUCCANEERS. 1 7 

years ago. France, England, and the Netherlands, 
the three remaining great maritime nations, com- 
bined against Spain and Portugal. These courts 
would give any man a commission to take a ship, 
fill it with armed men, and prey upon the commerce 
of Spain and Portugal. There was no court to de- 
cide upon the validity of prizes. The captors were 
responsible to nobody. They decided "for them- 
selves whether the prize they had taken was their 
legitimate booty. The whole spoil was divided 
among them according to their own agreement. 

Very soon all seas swarmed with these adven- 
turers. They sailed in fleets. In armed bands they 
landed and ravaged the coasts, battering down forts 
and capturing and plundering cities. They did not 
deem themselves pirates, but took the name of buc- 
caneers. Though often guilty of great enormities, 
they assumed the air of legitimate privateersmen. 
With heads high uplifted they swaggered through 
the street's of England, France, and the Netherlands, 
with lavish hand scattering their ill-gotten gold. 
They were welcomed at every port they entered, 
for they proved very profitable customers. They 
sold their booty very cheap. They purchased very 
freely, regardless of price. In drunken frolics they 
had been known to scatter doubloons in the streets 
to see men and boys scramble for them. The mer- 



1 8 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

chants all welcomed them, not deeming it necessary 
to ask any questions for conscience' sake. Their 
numbers became so great and their depredations so 
audacious, that no ship could sail in safety under 
any flag. The buccaneers were not careful to ob- 
tain any commission. Assuming that they were 
warring against the enemies of their country, even 
when there was no war existing between the two 
nations, they ravaged the seas at their pleasure. 

Generally their bands were well organized and 
under very salutary discipline. The following arti- 
cles of agreement, signed by the whole crew, were 
found on board one 'of these ships : 

" Every man is entitled to a vote in affairs of im- 
portance, and to an equal share of all provisions and 
strong liquors which may be seized. Any man who 
defrauds the company in plate, jewels, or money, 
shall be landed on a desert island. If he rob a 
messmate, his ears and nose shall be slit, and 
then he shall be landed on a desert island. No 
man shall play at cards or dice for money. The 
lights are to be put out at eight o'clock at night. 
No woman is to be allowed on board. Any man 
who brings a woman to sea disguised shall be put 
to death. No man shall strike another on board, 
but quarrels shall be settled on shore with sword or 
pistol. 



THE BUCCANEERS. 19 

" Any one deserting, or leaving his quarters, dur- 
ing an engagement, shall be either landed on a 
desert island or put to death. Every man losing a 
limb or becoming crippled in the service shall have,, 
eight hundred dollars. The captain and quarter- 
master shall receive two shares of every prize ; 
the master, boatswain, and gunner, one share and a 
half, and all other officers one and a quarter. Quar- 
ter always to be given when called for. He that 
sees a sail first is to have the best pistols and small 
arms on board of her." 

Thus it will be seen that these buccaneers were 
regularly organized bands, byno means ashamed of 
their calling. They were morally scarcely inferior to 
the robber knights and barons of the feudal ages, 
from whom the haughtiest nobles of Europe are 
proud to claim their lineage. They were not petty 
thieves and vulgar murderers. They unfurled their 
banners and waged open warfare on the sea and on 
the land, glorying in their chivalric exploits, and 
ostentatiously displaying, in all harbors, the trophies 
of their wild adventures. 

These freebooters assumed the most gorgeous 
and extravagant dresses. Their favorite ornament 
was a broad crimsom sash, of bright scarlet, passing 
round the waist, and fastened on the shoulder and 
hip with colored ribbons. This was so arranged 



20 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

that it formed a belt into which they could thrust 
three or four richly mounted pistols. These pistols 
were often sold at auction, on shipboard, for two 
hundred dollars each. Cocked hats, with a showy 
embroidery of gold lace, formed a conspicuous fea- 
ture of their costume. 

The captain, in time of battle, was invested with 
dictatorial power. He could stab or shoot any one 
who disobeyed his orders. His voice was generally 
^ decisive as to the treatment of prisoners. The large 
cabin was appropriated to his exclusive use. Often 
1 the freebooters combined, in several armed vessels, 
to attack some richly freighted fleet under convoy. 
Occasionally they landed, and captured and plun- 
dered very considerable cities. 

These buccaneers were generally, as we have 
said, Englishmen,- Frenchmen, or Germans. Still, 
adventurers from all nationalities crowded their 
decks. The Spanish Court remonstrated with the 
several Governments of Europe against these out- 
rages. France replied : 

" The people complained against act entirely on 
their own authority and responsibility, not by any 
commission from us. The King of Spain is at lib- 
erty to proceed against them according to his own 
pleasure." 

Elizabeth, England's termagant queen, with char- 
teristic tartness replied : 



THE BUCCANEERS. 21 

" The Spaniards have drawn these inconve- 
niences on themselves, by their severe and unjust 
dealings in their American commerce. The Queen 
of England cannot understand why her subjects,- of 
those of any other European prince should be de- 
barred from traffic in the West Indies. As she does 
not acknowledge the Spaniards to have any title to 
any portion of the New World by the donation of the 
Bishop of Rome, so she knows no right they have 
to any places other than those of which they are in 
actual possession. Their having touched only here 
and there upon a coast, and given names to a few 
rivers or capes, are such insignificant things as can 
in no ways entitle them to a property in those parts, 
any further than where they have actually settled 

and continue to inhabit." 

* 

Some curious anecdotes are told illustrative of the 
great respect some of these adventurers entertained 
for religion and morality. In many cases all bolts, 
locks, and fastenings of any kind were prohibited, 
as implying a doubt of the honor of their com- 
rades. Not a few men of noble birth became buc- 
caneers. A captain of one of these bands shot one 
of his crew for behaving irreverently in church. 
Sir Raveneau de Sussan, being deeply involved in 
debt, joined the freebooters because, he said, " he 



23 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

wished, as every honest man should do, to have 
withal to satisfy his creditors." 

The French called the buccaneers nos braves. 
The English papers were filled with admiring s,c- 
counts of their unparalleled exploits. A French 
buccaneer, Francois l'Olonnais, at the head of six 
hundred and fifty men, captured the towns of Ma- 
racaibo and Gibraltar, in the Gulf of Venezuela, 
and extorted half a million dollars for the ransom of 
those places. A French priest extolled the deed as 
one of chivalric heroism. 

The pirates seized the Island of Tortuga, built a 
town there, and erected a strong fort on an eminence 
which commanded a view of the encircling sea to the 
horizon. This island is situated a few leagues north 
of the magnificent Island of San Domingo, then 
called Hispaniola. It is long and narrow, running 
east and west, and is cbout sixty miles in circuit. 
It is mainly a mountainous island of rock, but at that 
time was densely covered with a gigantic forest. 
The western part of the island was uninhabited. 
It was very rugged and barre.n, and had no harbor 
or even cove into which a vessel or boat could run. 
On the southeastern shore there was one good 
harbor, so landlocked that it could be easily de- 
fended. The island abounded with wild boars, and 



THE BUCCANEERS. 23 

at some seasons, the very air seemed darkened with 
the flocks of pigeons which frequented its groves. 

The buccaneers seized this island, and sent to the 
French governor of St. Christopher's to furnish them 
with aid to fortify it. The governor sent them a 
ship full of men, with all needful supplies. With 
this assistance they built a fort on a high rock, which 
perfectly commanded the harbor. There was no 
access to the fort but by climbing a narrow passage, 
along which but two persons could pass at a time. 
With great difficulty two guns were raised and 
mounted. There was a plentiful supply of fresh 
water on the summit, from an abundant spring gush- 
ing from the rock. 

One of these buccaneers, John Esquemeling, has 
given quite a minute account of the achievements 
of himself and comrades. His narrative, which is 
deemed authentic, was written in Dutch, but was 
translated and published in London in the year 
1684. He had sailed from Havre -de -Grace, in 
France, for the New World, in the year 1666, to seek 
his fortune. He gives the following reason for join- 
ing the buccaneers : 

" I found myself in Tortuga like unto Adam 
when he was first created by the hand of his Maker ; 
that is, naked and destitute of all human necessaries. 
Not knowing how to get a living, I determined to 



24 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

enter into the wicked order of pirates or robbers of 
the sea. Into this society I was received by com- 
mon consent both of the superior and vulgar sort. 
I continued among them six years, until the year 
1672. Having assisted them in all their designs and 
attempts, and served them in many notable exploits, 
of which I here give the reader a full account, I 
returned to my own native country." 

We will give one incident illustrative of the 
mode in which these buccaneers operated. 

There was at Tortuga a man born in Dieppe, 
Normandy. From his gigantic stature and his bold 
carriage he was familiarly called Peter the Great. 
He took a large boat, and with twenty-eight com- 
panions, desperate men, thoroughly armed, set out 
from the harbor in search of booty. For a long 
time they sailed over those tropical seas, keeping a 
vigilant watch. from the mast-head, but no vessel 
appeared in sight. Their food was rapidly disap- 
pearing, and they began to be in despair. 

At length they espied, one afternoon, in the dis- 
tant horizon, a sail. As they approached it, they 
found, somewhat to their alarm, that it was a huge 
Spanish galleon laden to the gunwales with treasure. 
It probably contained passengers and crew, and per- 
haps soldiers, three or four times outnumbering the 
buccaneers. The sagacious Peter immediately sur- 



THE BUCCANEERS. 2$ 

mised that the. galleon was one of a merchant fleet 
which had recently sailed from Spain under a strong 
convoy, and being heavily laden, had, in some storm, 
got separated from the squadron. It Avas one of the 
most desperate of enterprises to attack such a ship 
with their little boat. The ship, though a merchant- 
man, had, without any doubt, some heavy guns, and 
the crew was well armed. 

But they were desperate men ; their provisions 
were exhausted ; they were in danger of actual star- 
vation. The captain assembled them all around 
him, and addressed them in a very glowing and 
inspiring speech. We cannot quote his identical 
words. But we have a record of the motives he 
urged to rouse his men to a frenzy of courage. 

" Our cruise," said he, " has been thus far a fail- 
ure. We have no money. We have no food. We 
must soon perish by the most miserable of all deaths, 
lingering starvation. In that ship there is food in 
abundance, wine in abundance, gold in abundance. 
We are now beggars. Let us take that ship, and 
we are princes. We can revel in luxury. Our for- 
tunes are made for our lives. We can sail to any 
land we please, and there live in independence. 
Even if some of us must die, it is better to die sud- 
denly than to starve. We can take the ship if we 
all do our duty. I call upon every one now to take 



26 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

a solemn oath either to capture the ship or to die in 
the attempt." 

To this appeal the piratic crew responded with 
cheers, and the oath was promptly taken. The cap- 
tain of the Spanish ship had been informed that 
there was a boat in sight, and that it probably was 
manned by pirates. He came upon deck, examined 
it carefully with his glass, and then, turning u.pon his 
heel, said contemptously : 

" We need not care for such a pitiful concern as 
that. It. is a mere cockle-shell. If you wish, you 
may rig the crane out, and we will hoist the whole 
thing, crew and all, on board. We need fe'ar no ship 
which is not bigger and stronger than our own." 

' The pirates had the advantage of the wind. 
They kept away until dark. Peter, or Pierre as they 
called him, informed them of his desperate plan. 
He would, in the gloom of night, put on all sail, 
and run his boat directly alongside of the galleon. 
Grappling-irons were immediately to be thrown over 
the gunwale of the ship, with ropes attached, by 
which the boat's crew were instantly to leap on 
board. The carpenter was to have tools ready and 
bore a large hole in the bottom of the boat, so as to 
sink it at once. He was then to leap on board. 

Every man was to have three or four loaded 
pistols in his belt, and a sabre in his hand. Escape 



THE BUCCANEERS. 2J 

was impossible. If they failed to capture the ship, 
and were captured themselves, their inevitable doom 
was death by hanging. The programme was carried 
out in full. The night was dark. There was no vigi- 
lance, no suspicion of danger on board the ship. 
The boat came alongside the huge bulk of the gal- 
leon so noiselessly that it was not perceived. 

The pirates rushed pell-mell on board. With 
their sharp sabres they cut down the terrified crew 
on the right hand and on the left. Pierre, leading a 
party, plunged into the cabin. The captain with 
several of his officers was playing cards. He sprang 
from his seat exclaiming : 

" Lord Jesus ; are these devils ? " 

Pierre, presenting a pistol at his breast, demanded 
the surrender of the ship. Had the captain or any 
of his officers raised a hand in self-defence, death 
would have been their immediate fate. They were 
all disarmed and bound. Another party, sweeping 
the decks with sword and pistol, drove all whom they 
did not kill into the hold, and shut the hatches upon 
them. They then seized the gun-room, where all 
the arms and ammunition were stored. 

In almost less time than it has taken to describe 
the scene, this majestic ship with its vast treasures 
was captured. Not a single pirate was killed or 
wounded. With three cheers the pirates proclaimed 



28 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

their astounding victory. They were nearly all sea- 
men, and familiar with those waters. They turned 
the ship to sail to Europe. Coming in sight of an 
island, they landed the captain and all the ship's 
company in a cove, and giving them a small supply 
of provisions, left them to shift for themselves. 
Several of the crew remained on board the ship, en- 
listing in the service of the pirates. This being done, 
they set sail for France, where they sold their ship, 
divided their immense booty, scattered, and were 
heard of no more. .* „ 

The inhabitants of Tortuga soon received tidings 
of this brilliant achievement. It seemed to inspire 
them all with the intense desire to go and do like- 
wise. All Tortuga was in an uproar. Every one 
applauded a deed which they deemed so glorious as 
well as so profitable. They saw that by a single en- 
terprise, Pierre had made his fortune for life. In a 
few months, more than twenty piratic vessels were 
fitted out- at Tortuga. 



CHAPTER II. 
William Kidd becomes a Pirate. 

Ravages of the Pirates. — The King's Interview with Earl Bellomont. 
— William Kidd, the New York Merchant. — His Commission. — 
Sailing of the Adventure. — Recruiting in New York. — Circu- 
itous Trip to Madagascar. — Perils and Sufferings. — Madagascar 
the Pirates' Home. — Murmurings of the Crew. — Kidd reluctantly 
.turns Pirate. — His Repulses, and his Captures. 

In the year 1695, the King of England, William 
III., summoned before him the. Earl of Bellomont, 
who had been governor of Barbadoes, and whom he 
had recently appointed governor of New York, and 
said to him : 

" The buccaneers have so increased in the East 
and West Indies, and all along the American coast, 
that they defiantly sail under their own flag. They 
penetrate the rivers ; land in numbers sufficient to 
capture cities, robbing palaces and cathedrals, and 
extorting enormous ransom. Their suppression is 
vital to commerce. They have possessed themselves 
of magnificent retreats, in Madagascar and other 
islands of the Indian Ocean. They have established 
their seraglios, and are living in fabulous splendor 



30 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

and luxury. Piratic expeditions are fitted out from 
the colonies of New England and Virginia ; and even 
the Quakers of Pennsylvania afford a market for 
their robberies. These successful freebooters are 
making their homes in the Carolinas, in Rhode 
Island, and along the south shore of Long Island, 
where they and their children take positions among 
the most respectable in the community. 

" The buccaneers are so audacious that they 
seek no concealment. Their ships are laden with 
the spoil of all nations. The richest prizes which 
can now be taken on the high seas are the heavily 
laden ships of the buccaneers. I have resolved, 
with, the aid of others, to fit out a private expedition 
against them. 'We have formed a company for that 
purpose. ' By attacking the pirates we shall accom- 
plish a double object. We shall in the first place 
check their devastating operations, and we shall also 
fill our purses with the proceeds of the abundant 
spoil with which their ships are laden." 

This second consideration was doubtless the 
leading one in the movement. The king was in 
great need of money. His nobles were impover- 
ished by extravagance. They were ready to re- 
sort to any measures to replenish their exhausted 
treasuries. This royal company was therefore or- 
ganized, not as a national movement, sustained by 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A PIRATE. 3 1 

national law, but as a piratic expedition against 
the pirates. The reclaimed treasure was not to be 
restored to its owners, nor to be placed in the treas- 
ury of the kingdom, but to be divided among the 
captors, as their legitimate spoil. And still the 
king was to give the commission in his kingly name. 

The king informed the Earl of Bellomont that 
he was about to invest him with the government of 
New York, and wished him to suggest the name of 
some suitable person, who was famjli^r with the 
North American coast and the West Indian seas, 
to whom he could intrust the command of the frig- 
ate they were then fitting out. It so chanced that 
an illustrious Englishman, Mr. Robert Livingston, 
the first of that name who had emigrated to the 
New World, was then in London. The earl con- 
sulted with him. He was informed that just the 
man he needed had accompanied him from New 
York to London, leaving his family behind. He was 
a merchant, by the name of William Kidd, a man of 
tried courage and integrity. 

In the last war with the French, Captain Kidd 
had commanded a privateersman, and had gained 
signal honor in many engagements. He had sailed 
over all the seas frequented by the buccaneers, and 
was familiar with their haunts. The commission 
which the king gave to Captain Kidd is a curious 



32 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

document. It is here given abridged of its exces- 
sive verbiage : 

" William the Third, by the grace of God King 
of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, to our 
true and well-beloved Captain William Kidd, com- 
mander of the ship Adventure. Whereas divers 
wicked persons commit many and great piracies, 
robberies, and depredations on the seas, upon the 
coasts of America and other parts, to the hindrance 
of trade and the danger of our subjects, we have 
thought fit to give to the said William Kidd full 
authority to seize all such pirates as you may find 
on the seas, whether our subjects or the subjects of 
other nations, with their ships, and all merchandise 
or money which shall be found on board, if they 
willingly yield themselves. But if they will not 
yield without fighting, then you are, by force, to' 
compel them to yield. We do also require you to 
bring, or cause to be brought, such pirates, free- 
booters, or sea rovers, as you shall seize, to a legal 
trial, to the end they may be proceeded against ac- 
cording to the law in such cases. 

" We enjoin you to keep an exact journal of your 
proceedings, giving the names of the ships you may 
capture, the names of their officers and crew, and 
the value of their cargoes, and stores. And we 
command you, at your peril, that you do not molest 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A PIRATE. 33 

our friends or allies under any pretence of authority 
hereby granted. Given the 26th of January, 1695." 

Captain Kidd at the same time received another 
document, which was called a commission of re- 
prisals. This authorized him, as a privateersman, to 
take any French merchant ships he might chance to 
meet ; for there was then war between France and 
England. 

A ship was purchased, for thirty thousand dol- 
lars, called the Adventure. Of this sum, Captain 
Kidd and Mr. Livingston furnished three thousand 
each. The remainder was contributed by the Earls 
Bellomont and Romney, Lord Chancellor Somers, 
the Lord High Admiral, the Duke of Shrewsbury, 
and Sir Henry Harrison. The king, rather inglori- 
ously, paid nothing. He purchased his share in the 
enterprise by the royal patronage. 

It seems that Captain Kidd was^a man of high 
reputation at that time. It was a large amount of 
property to be intrusted to his hands ; for the ves- 
sel and its outfit must have cost at least fifty thou- 
sand dollars. Mr. Livingston became Kidd's secu- 
rity that he would faithfully discharge his duties and 
account for all his captures. It is said that Kidd was 
not pleased with this arrangement, as hef..^.^ very 
unwilling that Mr. Livingston should be his bonds- 
man. He probably, even then, felt that it might 



34 CAPTAIN KIDD. . 

prove an obstacle in his future course. The opera- 
tions of the human mind are often inexplicable. 
He might wish to steal the ship and turn pirate 
on his own account. And he could not honorably 
do this while his friend was his bondsman. Such 
pressure was put upon him that he was constrained 
to yield. 

Armed with the royal commission, and in com- 
mand of the Adventure, Captain Kidd sailed from 
Plymouth, England, in May, 1696. The frigate had 
an armament of thirty guns, and a crew of eighty 
men. He was ordered to render his accounts to the 
Earl of Bellomont in New York. He sailed up the 
Narrows, into New York harbor, in July. His wife 
and children were in his home there. In crossing 
the Atlantic, Captain Kidd came across a French 
merchantman, which he captured. The prize was 
valued at but seventeen hundred dollars. This was 
considered a legitimate act of war. 

Captain Kidd knew full well that the enemy he 
was to encounter would fight with the utmost des- 
peration, and that he might meet a fleet of piratic 
ships, or a single ship, more powerful in men and 
armament than his own. He therefore sent out re- 
cruiting officers through the streets of New York, to 
enlist volunteers. The terms he offered were that 
every man should have an equal share of every prize 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A TIRATE. 35 

that was taken, after reserving for himself and the 
owners forty shares. With these offers he soon in- 
creased his crew to one hundred and fifty-five men. 

Sailing from the harbor of New York, he made 
first for Madeira, to lay in a stock of wine. Then 
he directed his course to the Cape de Verd Islands, 
for a supply of salt and provisions. Having obtained 
these, he spread his csmvas for a long voyage around 
the Cape of Good Hope, to the Island of Madagas- 
car, on the eastern coast of Africa. This island had 
become renowned as one of the most important ren- 
dezvouses of the pirates. 

Madagascar is larger than Great Britain. The 
pirates, by aid of their firearms, their desperate 
courage, and their superior intelligence, had gained 
possession of a considerable portion of the island. 
The natives were an inefficient race, copper-colored, 
with long, black hair. The pirates had treated them 
with such enormous cruelty, that the savages fled 
before them as if they had been demons. 

In this retreat, so far distant from the abodes of 
civilization, the buccaneers' had reared forts, and built 
mansions which they had converted into harems. 
From their voyages they returned here enriched 
with the plundered commerce of the world, to revel 
in all sensual indulgence. They made slaves of 
their prisoners ; married, in their rude way, any 



36 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

number they pleased of the most beautiful of the 
native females ; " so that every one," writes- one of 
"their number;" had as great a seraglio as the Grand 
Seignior at Constantinople. At length they began 
to separate from each other, each living with his 
own wives, slaves, and dependants, like independent 
princes. As power and plenty naturally beget con- 
tention, they sometimes quarrelled, and attacked 
each other at the head of their several armies. In 
these civil wars many of them were killed." 

These reckless men used their power like tyrants. 
They grew wanton in cruelty. Nothing was more 
common than, upon the slightest displeasure, to 
cause one of their dependants to be tied to a tree 
and shot through the heart. The natives combined 
for their extermination. The plan would have suc- 
ceeded but for betrayal by a woman. They trem- 
bled in view of their narrow escape, and combined 
for mutual defence. 

These ruffians assumed all the airs of the ancient 
baronial nobility. Their dwellings were citadels. 
They generally chose for their residence some dense 
forest, near running water. The house was sur- 
rounded by a rampart and a ditch. The rampart 
was so high that it could not. be climbed without 
scaling-ladders. The dwelling was so concealed, in 
the dense tropical forest, that it could not be seen 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A PIRATE. ■ 37 

until you were very near it. The only approach 
was so narrow that two could not pass it abreast. 
It was contrived in so intricate a manner that, to all 
not perfectly familiar with it, it was a perfect laby- 
rinth, with cross paths where one might wander for 
hours, lost in the maze. 

All along these narrow paths, large and very 
sharp thorns, which grew in that country, were plant- 
ed in the ground, so as to pierce the feet of the un- 
shod natives. If any should attempt to approach 
the house by night, they would certainly be pierced 
and torn by those cruel thorns. 

It was a long voyage to Madagascar. Before he 
reached the island nine months had elapsed since 
leaving Plymouth. Captain Kidd had expended all 
his money, and his provisions were nearly exhausted. 
Not a single prize had they captured by the way. 
This ill luck caused a general feeling of murmuring 
and contention on board. The most amiable are in 
danger of losing their amiability in hours of disas- 
ter. Rude seamen, but one remove from pirates, in 
such seasons of disappointment and chagrin become 
almost demons in moroseness. 

One morning the whole ship's crew were thrown 
into a state of the most joyous excitement by the 
sight of three ships in the distant horizon. They 
had no doubt that it was some buccaneer, with two 



38 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

prizes, heavily laden with the treasures of the Orient. 
Suddenly all became very good-natured. Eagerly 
they prepared for action. They had no fear that 
the pirate, with his prizes, could escape their swift- 
sailing frigate. The supposed pirate was apparently 
conscious that escape was impossible ; for he bore 
down boldly upon them. 

Terrible was the disappointment. Captain Kidd, 
gazing upon the approaching vessels through his 
glass, exclaimed, with an oath, "They are three 
English war-ships." 

Captain Warren was in command of the men-of- 
war. Meeting thus in mid-ocean, the two captains 
interchanged civilities, visited each other, and kept 
company for two or three days. It was in the 
month of February, 1666, that Captain Kidd, coast- 
ing along the shores of Madagascar, approached the 
harbor upon the island frequented by the pirates. 
Here he expected to find treasure in abundance. 
He had very decidedly exceeded his orders in leav- 
ing the waters of America for the distant shores 
of Africa and Asia. Triumphant success, which he 
was sanguine of achieving, might cause the diso- 
bedience of instructions not only to be forgiven but 
applauded. Failure would be to him disgrace and 
irretrievable ruin. 

Again Captain Kidd and his crew were doomed 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A PIRATE. 39 

to disappointment. It so happened that they ar- 
rived at the island at a time when every vessel was 
out on a piratic cruise. There' was not a single ves- 
sel there. All were growing desperate. Captain 
Kidd had but very little money left, and nearly all 
his provisions were consumed. As hastily as possi- 
ble he replenished his water-casks, and taking in a 
few more stores, weighed anchor, and voyaged thir- 
teen hundred miles farther east to Malabar, as the 
whole western coast of Hindostan was then called, 
from Cape Comorin to Bombay. 

He came within sight of these shores in June, 
four months after his arrival at Madagascar. - For 
some time he cruised up and down this coast una- 
vailingly. Not a single sail was to be seen'on the 
boundless expanse of ocean. There was universal 
discontent and murmurings on board the Adventure. 
The situation of the ship's company was indeed de- 
plorable. One-half of the globe was between them 
and their homes. Their provisions were nearly all 
gone, and they had no means with which to purchase 
more. It was clear that unless Providence should 
interpose in their favor, they' must either steal or 
starve. 

And Providence did, for a time, singularly inter- 
pose. As they were one day sailing by a small 
island, called Joanna, they saw the wreck of a ship 



40 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

on shore. Captain Kidd took a boat, and was rowed 
to the land, where he found that it was a French 
vessel. The crew had escaped, having saved quite a 
quantity of gold. The ship and cargo were a total 
loss. The Frenchman, so the narrative goes, loaned 
this gold to Captain Kidd. Perhaps he did. It is 
more probable that it was a forced loan. Captain 
Kidd had, as we have mentioned, a double commis- 
sion, one against the pirates, and the other a regular 
commission as a privateersman against the French. 
Had he captured the ship before the wreck it would 
have been his lawful prize. It is hardly probable 
that he had any scruples of conscience in seizing the 
doubloons when transferred to the shore. 

. With this gold he sailed to one of the ports on 
the Malabar coast, where he purchased food sufficient 
for a few weeks only. There was, at that time, in 
Asia, one of the most powerful nations on the globe, 
called the Mongols. The emperor, who was almost 
divinely worshipped, was titled the Great Mogul. 
His gorgeous palaces were reared in the city of 
Samarcand, in the province of Bokhara. This mag- 
nificent city,- thirty miles in circumference, glittered 
with palaces and mosques of gorgeous architecture, 
constructed of white marble. The empire was 
founded by the world-renowned Gengis Khan, and 
extended by the equally celebrated Tamerlane. The 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A PIRATE. 41 

sails of Mongol commerce whitened all the East-In- 
dian seas. Piracy then so abounded that this com- 
merce was generally carried on in fleets under 
convoy. Upon this cruise of disappointment and 
anxiety, Captain Kidd passed several of the ships of 
the Great Mogul. He looked upon them with a 
wistful eye. They were merchantmen. With his 
force he could easily capture them. There could 
be no doubt that they contained treasure of great 
value. 

There was loud murmuring among the crew. 
They could not understand those scruples of con- 
science which would allow them to plunder a few 
shipwrecked Frenchmen, and yet would turn aside 
from the rich argosies of the East. 

But Captain Kidd, a respectable New-York mer- 
chant, held in high esteem by the community, and 
who had been sent on this expedition expressly to 
capture and punish the pirates, was not then pre- 
pared to raise himself the black flag, and thus join 
the robbers of the seas. 

The struggle, in his mind, was probably very se- 
vere. He was daily growing more desperate. Star- 
vation stared him in the face. His crew was growing 
mutinous. He had reason to fear that they would 
rise, throw him overboard or land him upon some 
island, and then, raising the black flag of the pirate, 



42 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

scour the seas on their own account, and join the 
riotous band defiantly established at Madagascar. 

He had no doubt that the powerful company, 
who had sent him on this cruise, would overlook any 
irregularities in plundering wrong vessels, and would 
make no troublesome inquiries into his mode of 
operations, if he would only bring them home an 
abundance of gold. On the other hand, should he 
fail, he would be dismissed from their service in dis- 
grace, an utterly ruined man. 

He had learned that the Great Mogul was 
about to send from the Red Sea, through the Straits 
of Babelmandel, a richly freighted fleet of merchant- 
men, under convoy, bound to China. The Straits 
are but about fifteen miles wide. Consequently 
there could be no difficulty in intercepting the fleet. 

Captain Kidd had probably, in his silent thoughts, 
decided to turn freebooter. Though as yet he had 
divulged his secret to no one, and had committed 
no overt act, he had passed the Rubicon, and was. in 
heart a pirate. The change was at once percepti- 
ble. H.e ran his ship in toward the shore, and 
coasted along until he came in sight of a village of 
the natives, where herds were seen in the fields, and 
harvests were waving, and the boughs of the groves 
were laden with the golden fruit of the tropics. 
Doubtless he would have been glad to purchase 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A PIRATE. 43 

these stores. But he had no money. He had 
reached that point in his career at which he must 
either steal or starve. 

He sent several armed boats to the land, and 
robbed the unresisting natives without stint. He 
was not a man to pursue half measures. Having 
well revictualled his ship, he turned her bows to- 
ward the entrance to the Red Sea. Summoning 
his crew before him, he informed them of the 
change in his plans. 

" We have been unsuccessful hitherto, my boys," 
he said ; " but take courage. Fortune is now about 
to smile upon us. The fleet of the Great Mogul, 
freighted with the richest treasures, is soon to come 
out of the Red Sea. From the capture of those 
heavily laden ships we will all grow rich." 

This speech was greeted with shouts of applause 
by the desperate men whom he had picked up in 
the streets of London and New York. He sent out 
a swift-sailing boat well manned to enter the Red 
Sea, and run along its eastern coast on a voyage of 
discovery. The boat returned after an absence of a 
few days, with the rather alarming intelligence that 
they had counted a squadron of fifteen large ships 
just ready to sail. While some of them bore the 
flag of the Great Mogul, at the mast-head of others 
floated the banners of England and of Holland. 



44 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

England was in alliance with Holland, and on 
the most friendly terms with the Great Mogul. In 
the commission given to Captain Kidd by the king 
it was written : 

" We command you at your peril, that you do 
not molest our friends or allies, under any pretence 
of authority hereby granted." 

Captain Kidd must have pondered the question 
deeply and anxiously before he could have made 
up his mind to become an utter outlaw, by attack- 
ing a fleet composed of ships belonging not only to 
England's friend, and to England's ally, but also 
containing England's ships. Neither did he yet 
know how strong the convoy by which the fleet was 
guarded. 

He, however, while weighing these thoughts in 
his anxious mind, sailed to and fro before the mouth 
of the Strait, keeping a vigilant watch at the mast- 
head. After the lapse of four days the squadron 
hove in sight, far away on the northern horizon. As 
the vessels approached, Captain Kidd carefully scru- 
tinized them through his glass. His experienced 
eye soon perceived that the fleet was convoyed by 
two men-of-war, the one English, the other Dutch. 
This added to his embarrassment, and greatly 
increased his peril in case he should attempt an 
assault. 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A PIRATE. 45 

,The fleet was much scattered; for, strong in its 
guard, no danger was apprehended. Kidd's vessel 
was concealed from the general- view behind a head- 
land. His ship was a swift sailer, and he had an 
immense amount of canvas, which he could almost 
instantaneously spread to the bree'ze. There was a 
large, bulky. Mongol ship, laden to the gunwales, 
slowly ploughing its way through the waves, ap- 
proaching the point where the pirate lay concealed. 
The guard ships were at the distance of several 
miles. 

Captain Kidd darted out upon the galleon like 
an eagle upon its prey. He probably hoped to 
capture it, plunder it, and make his escape before 
the war-vessels could come to its rescue. He open- 
ed fire- upon the ship. But the convoy, instantly 
taking the alarm, pressed all sail, and bore rap- 
idly down upon him, opening a vigorous fire from 
their heavy guns. Kidd could not think of contend- 
ing with them. His chance was gone. He sheered 
off, and soon his cloud of swelling canvas disap- 
peared beyond the southern horizon. The armed 
frigates could not pursue him. They were com- 
pelled to remain behind to protect the slowly sail- 
ing fleet. 

Captain Kidd, imbittered by constant failure, 
was now a disappointed, chagrined, exasperated, 



46 CAPTAIN KIDD.' 

desperate man. He was ready for any enterprise, 
however atrocious, which would bring him money. 
He ran back to the coast of Malabar. Cruising 
along, he soon came in sight of a native vessel. Kidd 
captured it without a struggle. It was called the 
Maiden, belonged to some merchants of Aden, but 
was commanded by an Englishman by the name 
of Parker. " The mate, Antonio, was a Portuguese, 
familiar with the language of the country. 

There was nothing of value on board. Kidd, 
having resolutely embarked on a piratic cruise, 
impressed the captain, Parker, as pilot in those un- 
known waters. The mate he retained as an inter- 
preter. Vexed in finding no gold, and believing 
that the crew had concealed it, he treated them 
with the utmost- cruelty to extort a confession of 
where they had hid the coin. They were hoisted 
up by the arms and beaten with terrible severity. 
But all was in vain. No amount pf torture could 
bring to light gold which did not exist. 

The pirate, having robbed the poor men of a bale 
of pepper and a bale of coffee, with a few pieces of 
Arabian gold, contemptuously turned them adrift, 
bleeding and almost helpless in their exhaustion. 
After continuing his cruise for some time without any 
success, Kidd ran into a small port, on the Malabar 
coast, called Carawar. There were several English 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A PIRATE. 47 

merchants residing in that place. The tidings had 
already reached them of the capture of the Aden 
vessel, the impressment of the English captain and 
the Portuguese mate, and the cruel treatment of the 
crew. • 

As soon as Captain Kidd entered the port, it 
was suspected that he was the pirate. Two Eng- 
lish gentlemen, Mr. Harvey and Mr. Mason, came 
on board, and charged him with the crime, asking 
him what he had done with his two captives, Cap- 
tain Parker and the Portuguese mate. Kidd as- 
sumed an air of injured innocence, denied that he 
had any knowledge of the event, showed them his 
commission from the King of England as the head of 
a company of the most illustrious nobles to pursue 
and punish the pirates. Triumphantly he submit- 
ted the question if it were reasonable to suppose 
that a man who enjoyed the confidence of the king 
and his nobles, and was intrusted by them to lead 
an enterprise so essential to the national honor, 
should himself turn pirate. 

The gentlemen were silenced, but not convinced. 
All this time Parker and Antonio the Portuguese 
were concealed in a private place in the hold. 
There he kept them carefully guarded eight days, 
until he again set sail. Just after he had left the 
port, a Portuguese man-of-war entered. The Eng- 



48 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

lish merchants communicated to the commander 
their suspicions. He immediately put to sea in 
search of the Adventure, resolved, should he over- 
take her, carefully to examine the hold, hoping to 
find the captives on board, or at least some evidence 
of their having been there. 

The two ships met. Kidd was by no means dis- 
posed to have his vessel searched. A fierce battle 
ensued which lasted for six hours. Neither vessel 
was disposed to come to close quarters until the 
other was disabled. Kidd at length, finding, the 
Portuguese ship too strong for him, spread all his 
sails and escaped. With his vast amount of canvas 
he could run away from almost any foe. Ten of his 
men were wounded in this conflict, but none killed. 

Again these desperate men found it necessary to 
run into the land for provisions. They entered a 
small port called Porco. Here they filled their 
water-casks, and " bought," Kidd says, a sufficient 
number of hogs of the natives to victual the com- 
pany. As it is known that Kidd had no money, it 
is probable that the swine were obtained by that 
kind of moral suasion which is found in the muzzle 
of a pistol and the edge of a sabre. 

This suspicion is confirmed by the fact that the 
natives, in their exasperation, killed one of his men. 
The retaliation was characteristic of the crew and 



WILLIAM KIDD BECOMES A PIRATE. 49 

the times. Captain Kidd brought his guns to bear 
upon the village. With broadside after broadside 
he laid their huts in ruins. The torch was applied, 
and in an hour the peaceful village was converted 
into mouldering ashes. 

One of the natives was caught. They bound 
him to a tree, and then a whole boat's company, 
one after another, discharged each a bullet into his 
heart. Having achieved this exploit, which they 
probably thought chivalric, but which others may 
deem fiendish, Captain Kidd again spread his sails 
for a piratic cruise. 

The first vessel he came across was a large Mon- 
gol ship richly freighted. Kidd gave chase, unfurl- 
ing the French flag. The captain was a Dutchman, 
by the name of Mitchel. Seeing that he was pur- 
sued under French colors, he immediately ran up 
the banner of France. Captain Kidd at once spread 
to the breeze the flag of England. He was very 
exultant. He could lay aside the odious character 
of a pirate, and seize the ship in the less disgrace- 
ful capacity of a privateersman. He exclaimed with 
an oath, " I have caught you. You are a free prize 
to England." 

A cannon-ball was thrown across the bows # of 
the ship, and she was ordered to heave to. The 
ship was hailed in the French language, and some 
3 



50 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

one replied in the same tongue. They were then 
ordered to send their boat on board. The boat came 
bearing the captain of the ship, who was a Dutch- 
man, by the name of Mitchel, and a French gentle- 
man by the name of Le Roy. 

Kidd received them in his cabin, and upon in- 
quiry ascertained that the ship and cargo belonged 
to Mongol merchants ; that they had intrusted the 
command to a Dutch captain, as was not unfre- 
quently the case in those days, and that the French 
gentleman was merely a passenger accidently on 
board, passing from one port to another. 

These tidings, to use a sailor's phrase, "struck 
him all aback." Holland, as we have mentioned, was 
England's ally. The Great Mogul was England's 
friend. Kidd must release the ship, or confess him- 
self a pirate and an outlaw, and run the imminent 
risk of being hanged should he ever return to Eng- 
land. For a moment he seemed lost in thought, 
bewildered. Then his wicked mind, now rapidly 
descending into the abyss of sin and shame, rested 
in a decisive resolve. 



CHAPTER III. 

Piratic Adventures. 

Audacity of Kidd. — Fate of the November. — Kidd kills William 
Moore. — The Renowned Ballad. — Kidd's Compunctions. — Kidd 
at Madagascar. — Piratic Carousals. — The Artificial Hell. — Kidd's 
Return to the West Indies. — Exaggerated Reports of Avery. — 
His wretched Career, and wretched End. 

Captain Kidt/, with a piratic frown upon his 
brow, and piratic oaths upon his lips, turned to Mr. 
Le Roy and said : 

" Do you pretend that this is not a French ship, 
and that you are but a passenger on board ? " 

" It is so," Mr. Le Roy politely replied. " I am 
a stranger in these parts, and have merely taken 
passage on board this native ship, under Captain 
Mitchel, on my way to Bombay." 

" It is a lie," said the pirate, as he drew from 
his belt a pistol and cocked it. " This is a French 
ship, and you are its captain ; and it is my lawful 
prize. If you deny this, you shall instantly die." 

The features of Kidd, and his words blended 
with oaths, convinced Mr. Le Roy that he was in 



52 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

the, hands of a desperate man, whp would shrink 
from no crime. He was silent. Kidd then added : 

" I seize this ship as my legitimate prize. It 
belongs to a French subject, and is sailing under 
the French flag. I have a commission from his 
majesty the King of England to seize all such ships 
in his name." 

It seems strange that Kidd, after the many law- 
less acts of which he had already been guilty, should 
have deemed it of any consequence to have recourse 
to so wretched a quibble. But the incident shows 
that the New-York merchant, formerly of good rep- 
utation, still recoiled from the thought of plunging 
headlong into a piratic career. By observing these 
forms he could, in this case, should he ever have occa- 
sion to do so, claim the protection of the royal com- 
mission authorizing him to capture French ships. 

Kidd took his prize, which he called the Novem- 
ber, because it was captured in that month, into 
one of the East-Indian ports, and sold ship and 
Cargo for what they would fetch. What the amount 
was, or how he divided it, is not known. Again he 
resumed his cruise. It was evident that he had 
become anxious to renounce the career of pirate, 
upon which he had barely entered, and resume that 
of privateersman. They soon came across a Dutch 
ship, unmistakably such, in build and flag and rig- 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 53 

ging. The crew clamored for its capture ; Kidd res- 
olutely opposed it. A mutiny arose. A minority 
of the ship's company adhered to the captain. The 
majority declared that they would arm the boats 
and go and seize her. 

The captain, with drawn sabre in his hand, and 
pistols in his belt, and surrounded by those still 
faithful to him, stood upon her quarter-deck and 
said to the mutineers, firmly : 

" You may take^ the boats and go. But those 
who thus leave this ship will never ascend its sides 
again." 

One of the men, a gunner by the name of Wil- 
liam Moore, was particularly violent and abusive. 
With threatening gestures he approached the cap- 
tain, assailing him in the most vituperative terms, 
saying : 

" You are ruining us all. You are keeping us in 
beggary and starvation. But for your whims we 
might all be prosperous and rich." 

The captain was by no means a meek man. In 
his ungovernable passion he seized an iron-bound 
bucket, which chanced to be lying at his side, and 
gave the mutineer such a blow as fractured his skull 
and struck him senseless to the deck. Of the wound 
the gunner died the next day Not many will feel 
disposed to censure Captain Kidd very severely for 



54 CAPTAIN KIDD". 

this act. It was not a premeditated murder. It 
was perhaps a necessary deed, in quelling a mutiny, 
in which the mutineers were demanding that the 
black flag of the pirate should be raised, and which 
demand the captain was resisting. And yet it is 
probable that this blow sent Kidd to the gallows. 
Upon his subsequent trial, but little evidence of 
piracy could be adduced, and the death of Moore 
was the prominent charge brought against him. 

Kidd ever averred that it was a virtuous act, and 
that it did not trouble his conscience. It was done 
to prevent piracy and mutiny. He also averred that 
he had no intention to kill the man. Had he so 
intended he would have used pistol or sabre. In 
the ballad which, half a century ago, was sung in 
hundreds of farm-houses in New England, the lull- 
aby of infancy, the event is alluded to in the follow- 
ing words : 

" I murdered William Moore, as I sailed, as I sailed, 
I murdered William Moore as I sailed ; 
I murdered William Moore, and left him in his gore, 
Not many leagues from shore, as I sailed." 

We will give a few more verses to show the 
general character of this ballad of twenty-five stan- 
zas, once so popular, now forgotten : 

■ i 

" My name was William Kidd, when I sailed, when I sailed, 
. My name was William Kidd when I sailed, 

My name was William Kidd, God's laws I did forbid, 
And so wickedly I did when I sailed. 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 55 

" Thus being o'ertaken at last, I must die, I must die, 
Thus being o'ertaken at last, I must die ; 
Thus being o'ertaken at last, and into prison cast, 
A.nd sentence being pass'd, I must die. 

" To Newgate now I'm cast, and must die, and must die, 
To Newgate now I'm cast, and must die, 
To Newgate now I'm cast, with sad and heavy heart, 
To receive my just desert, I must die. 

" To Execution Dock I must go, I must go, 
To Execution Dock I must go ; 
To Execution Dock will many thousands^flock, 
But I must bear my shock, and must die. 

" Come all ye young and old, see me die, see me die, 
Come all ye young and old, see me die ; 
Come all ye young and old, you're welcome to my gold, 
For by it I've lost my soul, and must die." 

The Dutchman had no consciousness of the peril 
to which he had been exposed. The two ships kept 
company for several days, and then separated. Is it 
possible that all this time Kidd was hesitating 
whether to raise the black flag and seize the prize ? 
It looks like it ; for a few days after the Dutch ship 
had disappeared, quite a fleet of Malabar boats were 
met with, laden with provisions and other articles 
which Kidd needed. Unscrupulously he plundered 
them all. Probably he had no fears that, tidings of 
the outrage would ever reach England. And even 
if a rumor of the deed were ever to reach those dis- 
tant shores, he had no apprehension that England 



$6 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

would trouble herself to punish him for a little harsh 
treatment of semi-savages on the coast of Malabar. 

A few days after this robbery a Portuguese ship 
hove in sight. Kidd's moral nature was every hour 
growing weaker. He could no longer resist the 
temptation to seize the prize. He robbed the ves- 
sel of articles to the estimated value of two thou- 
sand dollars, and let her go, inflicting no injury upon 
the ship's company. 

For three weeks they continued to cruise over a 
sailless sea, when one morning, about the middle of 
December, an immense mass of canvas was seen 
rising over the distant horizon. It proved to be a 
native ship of four hundred tons burden. The ship 
was called the Quedagh Merchant, was very richly 
laden, and was commanded by an Englishman, Cap- 
tain Wright. The wealthy merchants of the East 
were fully aware of the superior nautical skill of the 
English seaman, and were eager to intrust their 
important ventures to European commanders. 

Kidd unfurled the French flag, chased the ship, 
and soon overtook it. A cannon-ball whistling over 
the heads of the crew was the very significant hint 
with which the ship was commanded to heave to. 
Kidd ordered the captain to lower his boat and 
come on board the Adventure. The captain obeyed, 
and informed the pirate that all the crew were East- 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 57 

Indians, excepting two Dutchmen and one French- 
man, and that the ship belonged exclusively to 
East-Indian merchants.. 

Kidd took piratic possession of the ship. He 
had not the shadow of a claim to it on the ground of 
his commission as a privateersman. He landed the 
officers and the crew, in boatload after boatload, 
upon the shore, and left them to shift for themselves. 
One or two of the merchants who owned the ship 
and cargo were on board. They offered the pirate 
twenty thousand rupees, which was equivalent to 
about fifteen thousand dollars, to ransom the prop- 
erty. Kidd declined the offer. 

His own ship, after such long voyaging, was 
leaky and much in want of repairs. The Quedagh 
Merchant was far superior to the Adventure. He. 
therefore transferred all his stores to his prize. 
The torch was* applied to the Adventure; and the 
ill-fated ship soon disappeared in a cloud of smoke 
and flame. Kidd, now a confirmed pirate, directed 
his course toward the great rendezvous of the pi- 
rates at Madagascar. Here the prize was valued at 
sixty-four thousand pounds, or about three hundred 
and twenty thousand dollars. 

Still this strange man assumed that he was act- 
ing under the royal commission, in behalf of the Lon- 
don company ; and these treasures were the legiti- 



58 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

mate plunder of a piratic ship. He therefore re- 
served forty shares for himself and the company. 
There were about one hundred and fifty men com- 
posing this piratic crew. Each man received about 
two thousand dollars. Kidd's portion amounted to 
nearly eighty thousand dollars. - 

In the pirates' harbor at Madagascar, Kidd found 
a large ship, the Resolution, belonging" to the East 
India Company, which the captain, a man by the 
name of Culliford, with the crew, had seized and 
turned into a pirate. It was clearly Kidd's duty, 
under his commission, at once to attack and capture 
this piratic ship. When Captain Culliford saw him 
entering the harbor with his powerful and well- 
armed ship, he was terrified. The pirates had heard 
of Captain Kidd's commission, and had not yet 
learned that he had turned pirate himself. Captain 
Culliford, with the gallows in visidn before him, 
and trembling in every nerve, for there was no pos- 
sibility of escape, sent some officers, in a boat, on 
board the Quedagh Merchant, to ascertain Captain 
Kidd's intention. 

It was testified at the subsequent trial of Kidd, 
that he stood upon his deck and received with 
open arms the piratic officers as they came up over 
the ship's side ; that he invited them to his cabin, 
where they had a great carouse in drinking and 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 59 

smoking ; and that in the frenzy of drink he offered 
for a toast : 

" May damnation seize my soul if I harm a hair 
of the head of any one on board the Culliford." 

It was declared that he received large presents 
of bales of silk from the piratic captain, and sold him 
some heavy ordnance, with suitable ammunition, for 
two thousand dollars ; and that he was on the most 
friendly terms with Culliford, exchanging frequent 
visits with him. 

On the other hand, Kidd emphatically denied all 
these charges. He said, " I never stepped foot on 
board Captain Culliford's ship. When I entered 
the harbor and ascertained the character of the craft, 
I ordered my men to prepare for action. But the 
mutinous crew, who had already compelled me to 
resort to measures against which my soul revolted, 
peremptorily refused, saying that they would rather 
fire two shots into my vessel than one into that of 
Captain Culliford. The mutiny became so menacing 
that my life was in danger. The turbulent crew rifled 
my chest, stole my journal, took possession of the 
ammunition. I was compelled to barricade myself 
in the cabin. The mutineers held the ship, and be- 
ing beyond all control, acted according to their own 
good pleasure. I was in no degree responsible for 
their conduct." 



60 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

The captain's statement was not credited by the 
court. At the same time it was quite evident that 
he had lost the control of his crew. His testimony 
was, however, in some degree borne out by the fact 
that ninety-five of his men in a body deserted him, 
and joined the piratic crew of Captain Culliford. 
This would seem to prove conclusively that Captain 
Kidd was not sufficiently piratical in his measures 
to satisfy the demands of the mutineers. 

For several weeks these guilty and wretched men 
remained in the " own place " of the pirates, indulg- 
ing in every species of bacchanal wassail and sen- 
sual vice, amidst their palaces and in their harems. 
Their revelry could not have been exceeded by 
any scenes ever witnessed in Sodom or Gomorrah. 
There were between five and six hundred upon the 
island. They were continually coming and going. 
Some of them were so rich that they remained at 
home cultivating quite large plantations by slave 
labor. They amused themselves by hunting, and in 
the wide meadows and forests found abundant game. 
The arrival of a ship in the harbor was the signal for 
an universal carouse. They endeavored to magnify 
the charms of their women by dressing them gor- 
geously in silks and satins, with glittering jewelry. 

Often a pipe of wine would be placed upon the 
shore, the head taken out, and the community would 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 6l 

drink of it as they pleased, as freely as if it were 
water. Drunken pirates reeled through the streets. 
Oaths filled the air. Knives gleamed, and pistols 
were discharged, and there were wounds and death. 
In the midst of all their revelry and wantonness and 
brawls, it is evident from the record we have of those 
days, that a more unhappy, wretched set of beings 
could scarcely be found this side of the world of 
woe. There was not a joy to be found there. There 
were no peaceful homes ; no loving husbands and 
wives ; no happy children climbing the parental 
knee and enfolded in parental arms; and in death 
nothing -but a "fearful looking for of judgment 
and fiery indignation." 

These wretched pirates were hateful and hating. 
Satiated with vice, they knew not where to turn 
for a single joy. Their shouts of laughter fell dis- 
cordantly upon the ear like the revelry of demons. 
Satan never allows his votaries any happiness either 
in this world or in that which is to come. Wisdom's 
ways only are ways of pleasantness, and her paths 
alone are those of peace. 

How far Captain Kidd entered into these god- 
less carousals is not known. But it is not probable 
that he was- then able to throw off all restraint, and 
become hail-fellow with these vulgar, degraded, 
profane wretches, whom in heart he must have 



62 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

despised. Neither is it probable that one accustomed 
to the society in which an honored New-York mer- 
chant would move, could so soon have formed a taste 
for the drunken revelry of the lowest and vilest 
creatures on earth. 

It is evident that these men had occasionally 
reproaches of conscience, and some faint sense of 
their terrible responsibility at God's bar. Four of 
them decided one day to make a little artificial hell 
for themselves, that they might see who could stand 
its pains the longest. 

A cloudless tropical sun blistered the deck with 
its blazing rays. The cabin was heated like an oven. 
In addition to this, they built a fire in the stove, till 
the iron plates were red hot. They then with blas- 
pheming oaths entered this furnace, and sprinkled 
brimstone upon the fire till the room was filled with 
its suffocating fumes. One of these wretches, ap- 
parently as fiend-like as a man could be, bore the 
pains of this little artificial hell for five minutes. 
None of the others could endure them so long. 
The victor came out very exultant. One would have 
thought that the idea would have occurred to their 
minds that there was some considerable difference 
between five minutes and eternity. 

We do not learn that any of these men were 
made better by the brief endurance of their self- 



• PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 6$ 

inflicted tortures. The mind is appalled by the 
thought that these same men, when transferred to 
the spirit land, may be as persistent in their hostility 
to all God's laws as they were here. 

Captain Kidd found himself abandoned by nearly 
all his crew. He remained in port only long enough 
to recruit sufficient men to navigate his ship, and 
then, spreading the sails of his stolen vessel, the 
Quedagh Merchant, he set out for the West Indies, 
with his ill-gotten treasure of eighty thousand dol- 
lars. The news of Kidd's piratic acts had been re- 
ported to the home government by the East India 
Company. Orders had accordingly been issued to 
all the governors of the American colonies to arrest 
him wherever he should appear. 

The voyage from Madagascar to the West Indies 
was long and tempestuous. Not a single sail ap- 
peared in sight. Day after day the ocean was spread 
out in all its solitary grandeur before these guilty, 
discontented men. At length, in a very destitute 
condition, the ship reached Anguilla, or Snake Island, 
so called from its tortuous figure. This is the most 
northerly of the Caribbee Islands, and there was a 
small- English colony here. 

As Kidd dropped anchor in the little harbor he 
was greeted by the intelligence that he had been 
officially, in England, proclaimed a pirate ; that -his 



64 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

conduct had been discussed in Parliament ; that a 
committee had been appointed to inquire into the 
character of the company which had commissioned 
him, and into the nature of the commission he had 
received; that a. -British man-of-war, the Queens- 
borough, had been dispatched in pursuit of him, and 
that a royal proclamation had been issued, offering 
pardon to all who had been guilty of piracy, eastward 
of the Cape of Good Hope, before the last day of 
April, 1699, excepting William Kidd, and another 
notorious buccaneer by. the name of Avery. 

This Avery had obtained great renown, and the 
most extravagant stories were reported and univer- 
sally believed in reference to his achievements. It 
was said that this pirate had attained almost impe- 
rial wealth, dignity, and power ; that he had become 
the proud founder of a new monarchy in the East, 
whose sceptre he swayed in undisputed absolutism. 
His exploits were celebrated in a play called, " The 
Successful Pirate," which was performed to admiring 
audiences in all the theatres. 

According to these representations, Avery had 
captured a ship, belonging to the Great Mogul, and 
laden with the richest treasures. On board the im- 
perial ship there was a beautiful princess, the daugh- 
ter of the Great Mogul. Avery had married her. 
The father, reigning over boundless realms, had 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 65 

recognized the union, and had assigned to Avery vast 
territories in the East, where millions were subject 
to his control. He occupied one of the most mag- 
nificent Of Oriental palaces, had several children, and 
was surrounded with splendors of royalty quite un- 
known in the Western world. He had a squadron of 
ships manned by the most desperate fellows of all 
nations. In his own name he issued commissions to 
the captains of his ships and the commanders of his 
•forts, and they all recognized his princely authority. 
His piracies were still continued on a scale com- 
mensurate with his power. Many schemes were of- 
fered to the royal council of England for fitting out 
a squadron to disperse his fleets and to take him 
captive. Others affirmed that he was altogether too 
powerful to be assailed in that way. They urged the 
expediency of sending an embassage to his court, 
and inviting him and his companions to come to 
England with all their treasures, assuring him of a 
hospitable reception and of the oblivion of all the 
past. They feared that unless these peaceful meas- 
ures were adopted, his ever-increasing greatness 

would enable him to annihilate all commerce with 
the East. 

These rumors were so far from having any foun- 
dation in truth, that at the same time that such 
wondrous tales were told, the wretch was a fugitive. 



66 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

wandering in disguise through England, trembling 
in view of the scaffold, and with scarcely a shilling in 
his pocket. His career was sufficiently extraordinary 
to merit a brief notice here. 

Avery was born in one of the western seaports 
of England, and from a boy was bred to the hard- 
ships and the degradation of a rude sailor's life. He 
was educated only in profanity, intemperance, and 
vice. As he grew up to stout boyhood he Became 
a bold smuggler, even running contraband goods on- 
shore on the far-away coasts of Peru. The Span- 
iards were poorly provided with war-ships to guard 
from what they deemed illicit traffic their immense 
regions in the New World. 

They therefore hired at Bristol a stout English 
ship, called the Duke. It was manned chiefly by 
English seamen. Captain Gibson was commander. 
Avery was first mate. The captain was a gambler, 
fond of his cups, and he often lingered many days 
in foreign ports, spending his time in haunts of dis- 
sipation. 

Avery was a fellow of more cunning than courage. 
He despised the captain, and formed a conspiracy 
with the most desperate men on board, to get rid of 
the captain and any sailors who might adhere to him, 
run away with the ship, and crossing over to the 
distant waters of the East Indies, reap a harvest of 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 6/ 

wealth from the commerce which whitened those 
seas. 

The ^hip was one day at anchor in a South 
American port. The plan had been, that night, 
when the captain was on shore, to weigh anchor, 
leaving the captain behind, and to set out on their 
cruise. But it so happened that the captain, that 
night, having drank deeply, did not go on shore as 
usual, but, at an early hour, went to bed. All the 
crew, excepting the conspirators, were either on 
shore or had retired to their berths. 

At ten o'clock at night the long-boat of the 
Duke came to the ship's side, bringing -sixteen 
stout desperadoes, whom Avery had enlisted from 
the vagabonds of all nations who thronged the port. 
They were received on board ; the hatches were 
closed ; and then, everything being secure, the 
anchor was leisurely weighed, and the ship put to 
sea. 

The motion of the ship and the noise of the run- 
ning tackles awoke the drunken captain, and he rang 
his bell. , Avery, with two sailors, entered the cabin. 
The captain was sitting up in his berth, rubbing his 
eyes, and evidently much alarmed. 

"What is the matter?" he exclaimed in hurried 
accents. " Something is the matter with the ship. 
Does she drive ? What weather is it ? " 



68 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

"Nothing is the matter," said Avery coolly; 
" only we are at sea, with a fair wind and good wea- 
ther." 

" At sea ! " said Gibson. " How can that be? " 

" Don't be in a fright," Avery replied. " Put on 
your clothes, and I will tell you a little secret, /am 
now captain of this ship. This is my cabin, and you 
must walk out of it. I am bound to Madagascar, 
with the design of making my own fortune and that 
of all the brave fellows joined with me." 

The captain was now completely sobered. In 
anticipation of immediate death his terror was pitia- 
ble. Avery endeavored to console him with the not 
very consolable words : 

" You have nothing to fear, captain, if you will 
join us, keep sober, and do your duty. If you behave 
well, I may, perhaps, some time, make you one of my 
lieutenants. Or, if you prefer, here is a boat along- 
side, and we will put you ashore." 

The terror-stricken man begged to be landed. 
The rest of the crew were brought up, and all who 
wished to go on shore with the captain were per- 
mitted to do so. But five or six availed themselves 
of the privilege. All the rest joined the piratic crew. 
The captain and his few adherents were placed in 
the boat and turned adrift, to make their way to the 
land as best they could. The carousing pirates 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 69 

directed their course to Madagascar. Here they 
found two piratic vessels, with whose crews they en- 
tered into close alliance. The three vessels, under 
Avery as admiral, set out on a cruise. 

Upon the Arabian coast, near the mouth of the 
Indus, the man at the mast-head cried out, " A sail." 
They ran down upon her, and fired a cannon-ball 
across her bows. But the vessel, instead of yielding 
at once, hoisted the Mogul's colors, and cleared her 
decks for battle. Avery kept at a distance, cannon- 
ading her with his heavy guns, and not approaching 
within reach of the shot of his foe. He thus lost 
greatly reputation with his men, who regarded him 
as a coward. The crews of the two accompanying 
sloops, with their decks swarming with pirates, ran 
one upon the bow and the other upon the quarter, 
and clambering over the bulwarks of the heavily 
laden merchantman, took her by storm. 

It is true, as the story had it, that the vessel 
belonged to the emperor, or Great Mogul, himself. 
His daughter was on board, as well as several of the 
most distinguished personages of his court. They 
were bound on a pilgrimage to Mecca, with the rich- 
est treasures to present at the shrine of Mohammed. 
They had costly silks, precious jewels, vessels of 
gold and silver, and large sums of money. The 
booty obtained from this prize was immense. 



JO CAPTAIN KIDD. 

Having plundered the ship of everything they 
wanted, the pirates let her go. The Mogul, when 
he heard the tidings, was greatly enraged. He- 
threatened to send an army, with fire and sword, 
utterly to exterminate the English in all their East- 
Indian colonies. The East India Company, in Eng- 
land, was greatly alarmed. They - immediately 
dispatched an embassage to the Great Mogul to 
pacify him. They promised, in the name of the 
British Government, to pursue the pirates with the 
utmost vigor, and, if captured, to deliver them over 
into his hands. 

In the mean time the successful buccaneers were 
making their way back to their rendezvous at Mad- 
agascar. There they intended to store their booty, 
erect a fortification for its defence, garrison it with 
men of desperate valor, and then to set out again 
on another cruise. As they were sailing along, with 
this design, each of the vessels having a portion of 
the plunder, the villanous Avery sent for the chief 
officers of each of the vessels to come on board the 
Duke. He then said to them : 

" We have immense treasure, sufficient to enrich 
us all for life, if we can only get it to some secure 
place on shore. But we are in great danger of 
being separated by bad weather. In that case, 
should either of the sloops meet any ship of force, 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 7 1 

it would be captured. But the Duke, in build and 
armament, is superior to any ship to be encountered 
in these waters. My ship is so well manned that 
she can defy any foe ; and moreover, she is such a 
swift sailer, that she can easily escape any other 
ship, if she does not wish to fight. 

" I therefore propose, for our mutual safety, that 
we put all the treasure " on board the Duke. We 
can seal up each chest with three seals, of which 
each vessel shall keep one. The chests shall not be 
opened until we open them together at the rendez- 
vous." 

This proposal seemed so reasonable that they all 
agreed to it. All the treasure was transferred to 
the Duke. Avery then said to the villains who sur- 
rounded him : 

" We have now the whole treasure at our own 
control. Let us, at night, give the rest a slip, and 
sail for unknown parts in North America. We can 
go ashore, divide our wealth, and with ample riches 
settle wherever we please." 

We have heard that there is honor among 
thieves. Among these thieves there was none. 
Not a dissentient voice was heard. All agreed to 
the plan. In the darkness of the ensuing night the 
ship changed her course, and in the morning the 
crews of the two sloops searched the horizon in vain 



J2 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

for any sight of her. They knew by the fairness of 
the weather, and the course they were pursuing, 
that the flight had been intentional. The reader 
must be left to surmise the scenes of confusion and 
profanity which must have been witnessed on board 
these piratic crafts. 

The first land the Duke made in America was 
the Island of Providence. Here Avery sold the 
ship, pretending that it had been fitted out as a 
privateer, but having been unsuccessful, the owners 
had ordered her to be disposed of, as soon as any 
purchasers could be found. With a portion of the 
proceeds a small sloop was bought, and the buc- 
caneers sailed for Boston, New England. Avery, 
thief as he was, had concealed the greater part of 
the diamonds, of whose great value the crew were 
ignorant. 

At Boston they landed. Many of the men re- 
ceived their shares, and scattered throughout New 
England. Avery was afraid to offer his diamonds 
for sale there, where diamonds were so unusual a com- 
modity, lest suspicion should be excited. He per- 
suaded a few of his companions to accompany him 
to Ireland. They landed at one of the northern 
ports and there separated. Avery went to Dublin. 
He was still afraid to offer his diamonds for sale, lest 
inquiry should lead to the discovery of his manner 



PIRATIC ADVENTURES. 73 

of acquiring them. He thus found himself in pov- 
erty with all his wealth. 

After remaining some time in Ireland under a 
feigned name, and ever trembling at his shadow, 
he crossed over to Bristol. Here he fell in with 
some sharpers, who, getting a hint of the treasures 
he had to dispose of, took him under their especial 
care. They wormed most of his secrets out of him, 
and then recommended that he should dispose of 
his jewels to an established firm of wealth and credit, 
who, being accustomed to great transactions, would 
make no inquiries as to the way he obtained his 
treasure. 

Avery, not knowing what to do, assented to this 
proposal. The sharpers brought some men whom 
they introduced to Avery as gentlemen of the highest 
standing in the jewelry business. Avery exhibited 
to them his diamonds and pearls, and many vessels 
of massive gold. They took them to sell on com- 
mission. This was the last he saw of his stolen 
wealth. To his remonstrances he received only the 
reply : 

" If you speak a word out loud, we will have you 
hung for piracy." 

Utterly beggared, and terrified by these menaces, 
he again, in disguise, and under a feigned name, 
crossed over to Ireland. Here his destitution and 
4 



74 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

distress became so great, for he was absolutely con- 
strained to beg for his bread, that he resolved to go 
back to Bristol, and demand payment for his treas- 
ure at whatever hazard. He worked his passage in 
a small coasting vessel to Plymouth, and walked to 
Bidd*eford. Here, overcome with fatigue and suffer- 
ing, both mental and bodily, he was seized with- a 
fever, died, and, not one penny being found in his 
pockets, was buried at the expense of the parish as 
a vagabond pauper. 

Such was the end of the pirate Avery, of whom 
such extravagant stories had been told. It was 
while he was in this extreme of poverty in England, 
and when it was supposed that he was rioting in 
successful piracy in the East, that the Government 
coupled his name with that of Captain Kidd, de- 
nouncing them as outlaws, and declaring that 
their sins were too great to be forgiven, and that, 
if arrested, the gallows was their inevitable doom. 



CHAPTER IV 
Arrest, Trial, and Condemnation' of Kidd. 

Appalling Tidings. — Trip to Curacoa. — Disposal of the Quedagh 
Merchant. — Purchase of the Antonio. — Trembling Approach 
toward New York. — Measures for the Arrest of Kidd. — He en- 
ters Delaware Bay. — Touches at Oyster Bay and Block Island. — 
Communications with the Government. — Sails for Boston. — His 
Arrest. — Long Delays. — Public Rumors. — His Trial and Con 
demnation. 

Captain KlDD was greatly disturbed in learning 
at Anguilla that he had been denounced as a pirate, 
proscribed as an outlaw, and that he with the no- 
torious Avery was expressly excluded from the par- 
don offered by the king to other buccaneers. He 
had thus far flattered himself with the hope that he 
could make it appear that all the prizes he had cap- 
tured belonged to the French, and were legitimately 
taken under his commission as a privateersman. He 
also had placed much confidence in the support of 
the distinguished men composing the company by 
which he had been commissioned. The large wealth 
which he had expected to bring back to them, he 
thought, would unite their powerful influence in his 
support. 



?6 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

But instead of this, it now appeared that the 
company was disposed to make him their " scape- 
goat." They had been so severely condemned, as 
if responsible for the conduct of their agent, that in 
self-defence they became the loudest of his assailants, 
denouncing him in the severest terms, and clamoring 
most loudly that all seas should be explored to catch 
and hang the miscreant. It was these political 
complications, united with the renown of the com- 
pany of king and nobles, which gave the name of 
Captain Kidd prominence far above anything which 
his achievements would warrant. It was known 
that he had been scouring the East-Indian seas with 
one of the most powerful of English ships, and it 
was surmised that he had accumulated wealth suffi- 
cient to found an empire. What became of this 
boundless wealth ? This was the question which 
agitated England and America, and which set the 
money-diggers at work in so many different places. 

Captain Kidd and his crew, at Anguilla, were 
greatly alarmed. They kept a careful watch of the 
horizon from the mast-head, fearing every hour that 
they should see the flag of an English man-of-war 
approaching to convey them to trial and the scaf- 
fold. About a thousand miles south of Anguilla, 
there was, on the coast of Venezuela, the little island 
of Curacoa. It was but about forty miles long, and 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. J? 

fourteen broad, and, belonging to the Dutch, was 
quite outside of the usual course of the British ships. 

To this place Kidd repaired to lay in supplies, of 
which he was greatly in need. Though he had 
heard of his proscription, he was not fully aware of 
the strength of hostility which was arrayed against 
him. He still clung to the hope that no evidence 
could be brought to prove that he had acted in any 
other capacity than that of a privateersman. 

But the very ship in which he sailed was evidence 
against him. The Quedagh Merchant, the property 
of the Great Mogul, was undeniably an East-Indian 
ship belonging to a friendly power, whom Kidd was 
expressly prohibited from assailing. He could not 
safely approach any English port in this ship. He 
accordingly purchased at Curacoa the small sloop 
Antonio, from Philadelphia. In this he placed his 
most portable treasures of doubloons, gold-dust, 
jewels, and vessels of silver and of gold, and with a 
crew of forty men set sail for New York. He kept 
the Quedagh Merchant in company with him as far 
as the southern coast of San Domingo. There he 
left the bulky ship, with a crew of twenty-two pirates, 
under command of a man by the name of Bolton. 
The ship had a very valuable cargo of one hundred 
and fifty bales of the finest silks, eighty tons of sugar, 
ten tons of junk iron, fifteen large anchors, and forty 



78 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

tons of saltpetre. The ship was also well provided 
with ammunition, had thirty guns mounted, and 
twenty more in the hold. 

This was the division of the piratic plunder. 
The share which fell to Bolton and twenty-two of 
the men was the ship and this portion of the cargo. 
These wretches are heard of no more. It is to be 
•hoped that the next storm which rose engulfed them 
all. It is more probable that for months they con- 
tinued to range the seas, perpetrating crimes over 
which demons should blush, until, in drunken brawls 
and bloody fights, they one by one sank into the 
grave, and passed to the judgment-seat of Christ. 
Unreliable rumor says that Bolton transferred his 
cargo and crew to a more swiftly sailing ship, and then 
applied the torch to the Quedagh Merchant. Many 
other rumors were in circulation, but none worthy 
of credence. 

Earl Bellomont was then in authority at New 
York. Kidd was hoping for his protection. But the 
earl felt that very active measures were requisite to 
exculpate himself, the king, and the ministry from 
all responsibility for the robberies of Kidd. He 
therefore, so soon as he heard of Kidd's arrival upon 
the coast, ordered out an armed sloop in pursuit of 
him. 

It is evident that Kidd was then one of the most 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 79 

wretched of men. His reputation was ruined ; his 
prospects in life were all blighted ; his companions 
were bloodthirsty pirates, whom "he could not but 
despise, and he was in imminent danger of an igno- 
minious death upon the scaffold. 

Tremblingly he approached New York. As his 
vessel needed some repairs, he ran into Delaware 
Bay, and tarried for a short time at Lewiston. This 
was early in June, 1699. It was from this place that 
Bellomont heard of his arrival. Here one of the 
pirates, a man by the name of Gillam, left, being in 
possession of a heavy chest, laden with the fruits 
of his robberies. 

Kidd soon departed from the harbor, and thus 
escaped the sloop sent in pursuit of him. Instead 
of sailing directly to New York, in his perplexity he 
followed along the southern coast of Long Island, 
until he reached its eastern extremity, and then, 
turning into the Sound, crept cautiously along to 
Oyster Bay. From this place he wrote a letter to 
Bellomont, and also another very loving letter to his 
wife and children. In his letter to the earl he wrote : 

" The reason why I have not gone directly to 
New York, is that the clamorous and false stories 
that have been repeated of me, have made me fear- 
ful of visiting or coming into any harbor, till I could 
hear fr.'m your lordship." 



80 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

In response to these letters, a lawyer by the name 
of Emot came from New York, and visited Kidd on 
board the Antonio. He brought the captain tidings 
respecting his family, and also the important intelli- 
gence that the Earl of Bellomont was then absent in 
Boston. Kidd employed Emot to repair immediate- 
ly to Boston, to secure from the earl the promise 
of safety if Kidd should visit him there. 

" Inform the earl," said Kidd, "that unquestion- 
able piracies have been committed by men nomi- 
nally under my command. But this has never been 
by my connivance or consent. When these deeds 
have been performed, the men have been in a state 
of mutiny, utterly beyond my control. Disregarding 
my imperative commands, they locked me up in the 
cabin, and committed crimes over which I had no 
control, and for which I am in no sense responsible." 

To this the earl replied, " Say to Captain Kidd 
that I give him the promise of my protection if his 
statement can be proved to be true." 

Kidd was still in a state of pitiable agitation. 
It might not be easy to prove his declarations. 
There was no evidence which he could possibly 
bring forward but that of the pirates themselves. 
And it was not at all probable that they would be 
willing greatly to exaggerate their own guilt by ex- 
onerating him. He, however, ventured as far as 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 8 1 

Block Island. From that place he wrote to Bello- 
mont again, protesting his innocence, and dwelling 
much upon the devotion with which he had conse- 
crated himself to the interests of the owners of the 
Adventure. He also sent to Lady Bellomont a pres- 
ent of jewels, to the value of three hundred dollars. 
The earl's lady,, for a time, retained these presents 
from the proscribed pirate and outlaw. When sub- 
sequently reproached with this, they were surren- 
dered to the general inventory of Kidd's effects. 
The earl apologized for retaining them by saying 
that he feared, if they were rejected, the giver would 
be so offended that the earl would not be able to get 
the developments he wished to obtain. 

While at Block Island, Mrs. Kidd and the chil- 
dren joined Captain Kidd, under the care of Mr. 
Clark. They were all received on board the Antonio, 
and Kidd, with a pale cheek and a trembling heart, 
set sail for Boston. As Mr. Clark wished to return 
to New York, Kidd turned from his course and 
landed him at Gardiner's Island. Captain Kidd did 
not venture ashore at this place. But, for some un- 
explained reason, he deposited with Mr. Gardiner, 
the proprietor of the island, for safe keeping, a very 
considerable portion of his treasures. He then sailed 
for Boston, and entered the harbor on the first of 
July, 1699. 

4* 



82 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

For nearly a week he remained in his vessel or 
traversed the streets unmolested. On the sixth of 
July, an officer approached" him, placed his hand 
upon Kidd's shoulder, and said, " You are my pris- 
oner." The pirate endeavored to draw his sword. 
It might have been an instinctive motion. It 
might have been that he deliberately preferred to 
be cut down upon the spot rather than undergo a 
trial. Others interposed. He was seized and dis- 
armed, while his sword remained in its scabbard. 

It is evident that there were very many chances 
that the trial might terminate in Kidd's favor. 
It is a maxim of law that every man is to be con- 
sidered innocent until proved to be guilty. Kidd's 
piracies were perpetrated on the other side of the 
globe. None of his victims could possibly appear 
against him. There were none to be brought upon 
the witness's stand but his own sailors, who would 
be slow to admit that they had been engaged in a 
piratic cruise, which would condemn them to the 
gallows. It would seem, therefore, that there were 
insuperable difficulties in the way of his condem- 
nation. 

Mrs. Kidd, in coming from New York to Block 
Island with her children to join her husband, had 
brought with her a servant-girl, about three hun- 
dred dollars in money, and several valuable pieces 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 83 

of plate. These were all seized, together with all 
the effects on board the Antonio, and the treasure 
deposited at Gardiner's Island, which was brought 
to Boston by a vessel sent to the island for that 
purpose. 

The whole amount proved much less than had 
been expected. There were eleven hundred and 
eleven ounces of gold, two thousand three hundred 
and fifty-three ounces of silver, fifty-seven bags of 
sugar, forty-one bales of goods, and seventeen pieces 
of canvas. Mrs. Kidd petitioned the governor and 
council to have her property restored to her, which 
was done. 

The small amount of property found led to the 
suspicion, that as Kidd slowly passed over the 
waters of Long Island Sound, he must have buried, 
at Thimble Island and other places along the coast, 
a large amount of gold and jewels. And it is indeed 
difficult to account for what became of the vast 
treasures of that kind which it is supposed he found 
in the Quedagh Merchant. These rumors were in- 
tensified by the statement that while Kidd was at 
Block Island, three sloops came from New York and 
departed with a portion of his treasure. Kidd ad- 
mitted this, but said that the goods belonged to his 
men and were shipped by them. 

Immediately upon Kidd's arrival the earl sent 



84 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

for him, and held quite a long interview, though he 
was careful to do so in the presence of witnesses. 
A narrative was very carefully drawn up of his 
alleged proceedings. Mrs. Kidd took up her resi- 
dence in a boarding-house kept by Mr. Duncan 
Campbell. The earl kept a close watch upon Kidd, 
fully intending, as he said, eventually to arrest him. 
But he thought it expedient to dally with h'im for a 
while, in order to discover the extent of his adven- 
tures, and the disposition he had made of the prop- 
erty acquired. Kidd sent to the boarding-house 
some gold-dust and ingots, which he said were 
intended as a present for the earl's lady. They 
were valued at about four thousand dollars. When 
searching the house they were found between two 
feather beds. 

As Kidd did not seem disposed to unbosom 
himself very freely, and as the earl feared that some 
stormy night he might escape, he decided to hold 
him secure in prison. This led to his arrest, which 
we have already alluded to, on the sixth day after 
his arrival. The arrest took place in the streets of 
Boston, near the door of the earl's residence. At 
the same time some commissioners took possession 
of his sloop. They seized and examined all his 
papers, and placed a guard ofer the property. Quite 
a number of his men were also arrested, twelve in 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 85 

all, under charge of piracy and robbery on the high 
seas. It is supposed that the others escaped. 

On the seventeenth of July, Captain Nicholas 
Evertse arrived in Boston, with the statement to 
which we have referred, that Bolton, who was left in 
charge of the Ouedagh Merchant, had transferred her 
cargo to another vessel, conveyed the goods to Cura- 
coa, and set the Merchant on fire. He testified that 
he saw the flames of the burning ship as he was 
skirting the coast of San Domingo. 

Kidd and his confederate pirates, were held in 
close custody in Boston for several months. In the 
mean time intelligence of their capture was sent to 
London. The home government dispatched a ship 
of war to take them to England for trial. The ex- 
citement throughout Great Britain and in this coun- 
try was intense, in consequence of the rumor which 
had so extensively prevailed of Kidd's partnership 
with the king and several of the ministry. Many 
monthsmad already elapsed since his arrest, and yet 
he had not been brought to trial. The ship sent to 
transport him to London encountered a severe 
storm and put back. This caused an additional 
delay, and increased the excitement. It was said 
that the ministry, out of regard to their own reputa- 
tion, were determined not to bring him to justice. 
Thus, throughout all England, he ceased to be 



86 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

regarded as an ordinary pirate, and was raised to the 
dignity of one entitled to a state trial. 

Immediately upon Kidd's arrival, the House of 
Commons addressed a petition to the king, praying 
to have his trial postponed until the next Parlia- 
ment. The question of his guilt or innocence had 
become so involved in political issues, that there 
was a strong party ready to make the greatest exer- 
tions to secure his condemnation. They urged the 
postponement on the ground that this length of 
time was requisite to obtain, from the Indies, docu- 
ments and affidavits in reference to his transactions. 
Kidd and his companions were consequently con- 
fined in Newgate prison for a whole year. 

At that very time the House of Commons had 
impeached the Earl of Oxford and Lord Somers, for 
their connection with Kidd, and for the extraordi- 
nary commission which they had been instrumental 
in placing in his hands. It was said that commission 
and grants had been conferred upon him, which were 
highly prejudicial to the interests of trade and dis- 
honorable to the king. In accordance with this 
commission, Kidd could capture any ship, and, with- 
out referring the question to any court of inquiry, 
could, of his own pleasure, declare the ship to be a 
pirate. He could then confiscate ship and cargo to 
his own use, and dispose of the crew in any way 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 87 

which to him might seem best. This was the 
course which, under the commission, he did pursue. 

These were certainly very extraordinary powers. 
It was contended that they were contrary to the 
law of England and to the Bill of Rights. To these 
arguments it was replied, by the friends of the im- 
peached nobles, that pirates were the enemies of 
the human race; that as such any person had a 
right to destroy them, and seize the property they 
had so iniquitously acquired, and to which they had 
no legitimate title. It was also declared, though 
perhaps the royal commission would hardly sustain 
the statement, that Kidd was authorized to seize 
only that property for which no other owner could 
be found. Certainly there was no provision made 
for searching out such ownership. It was, however, 
urged, and very truthfully, that the commission con- 
tained the all-important clause : 

" We do also require you to bring, or cause to 
be brought, such pirates, freebooters, or sea-rovers, 
as you shall seize, to legal trial, to the end they 
may be proceeded against according to the law in 
such cases." 

The fact that Kidd entirely ignored these in- 
structions, constituting himself the court to try and 
condemn, could not justly be brought as a charge 
againstthe ministers who commissioned him. 



88 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

Upon these questions popular feeling ran high. 
Parties took sides. Agitating rumors rilled the air. 
It was confidently affirmed that the lords then on 
trial, with the connivance of the ministry, that they 
might escape the investigation which the trial of Kidd 
would involve, had set the Great Seal of England 
to the pardon of the pirate. This roused the anti- 
ministerial party to the highest state of exasperation. 
They resolved at all events to hang Kidd, hoping 
thus to prove that the ministers were alike guilty 
with him. And on the other hand, the ministers 
themselves had come to the conclusion that any at- 
tempt to shield Kidd would redound to their own 
ruin. It had become essential to their own reputa- 
tion that they should manifest more zeal than any 
others to bring Kidd to the scaffold. 

Thus the wretched pirate had no chance of a fair 
trial. Undoubtedly he was guilty. But it is very 
doubtful whether he were proved to be guilty when 
called before the court. The bill of impeachment 
against the lords was not carried. Though their 
participation with Kidd in the profits of an expedi- 
tion which was authorized only by their own official 
acts was deemed very censurable, when the vote 
was taken there were but twenty-three in favor of 
the impeachment, while there were fifty-six opposed 
to the bill. 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 89 

The Earl of Bellomont, harassed by the proce- 
dure in the House of Commons, and knowing that 
measures were about to be instituted against him, 
for his recall from the provincial government, and 
perhaps for his still more severe punishment, was 
taken sick and died in New-York, in March, 1700. 
Thus he escaped from the further troubles of this 
ever-troubled world. 

At the close of the year 1700, the papers which 
had been sent for arrived from the East Indies. A 
petition came from several of the East-Indian mer- 
chants, subjects of the King of Persia, giving a mi- 
nute recital of the capture of the Quedagh Merchant, 
and praying that the property of which they had 
thus been robbed, and much of which had been con- 
veyed to the North American colonies, might be re- 
stored to them. A very distinguished East Indian, 
by the name of Cogi Baba, came to London in behalf 
of the petitioners. He Was summoned to appear 
before the House of Commons. At the same time 
Kidd himself was brought from his prison before the 
bar. 

After an examination, a motion was made to the 
House to declare the grant made to the Earl of Bello- 
mont and others of the company, of all the treasure 
taken by Kidd, to be null and void. But this motion 
was negatived. A vote was then taken requesting 



90 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

the king to institute immediate proceedings against 
Captain Kidd for piracy and murder. He was ac- 
cordingly brought to trial, under this indictment, at 
the Old Bailey, in the year 1701. 

Several of Kidd's confederates were tried with 
him. Some of them pleaded the king's pardon, 
saying that they had surrendered themselves within 
the time limited in the royal proclamation. The 
governor of New Jersey, Colonel Bass, then in court, 
testified to the truth of this assertion, the surrender 
having been made to him. 

To this it was replied, " There were four com- 
missioners named in the proclamation, Thomas 
Warren, Israel Hayes, Peter Delanoye, and Chris- 
topher Pollard. These commissioners were sent to 
America to receive the submission of such pirates 
as should surrender. No other persons were entitled 
to receive their surrender. They therefore have not 
complied with the conditions of the proclamation." 

They were condemned and hanged. One of the 
crew, Darby Mullens, made the following strong de- 
fence. 

" I served under the king's commission. I could 
not therefore disobey my commander, without 
exposing myself to the most severe punishment. 
Whenever a ship goes out upon any expedition, 
under the king's commission, the men are never 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 91 

allowed to call their officers to account. Implicit 
obedience is required of them. Any other course 
would destroy all discipline. If anything unlawful 
is done, the officers are to answer for it, for the men, 
in obeying orders, only do what is imperiously their 
duty." 

The court replied, " When a man is acting under 
a commission, he is justified only in doing that which 
is lawful, not in that which is unlawful." 

The prisoner responded, " I stand in need of 
nothing to justify me in what is lawful. But the 
case of a seaman is very hard, if he is exposed to 
being scourged or shot if he refuse to obey his com- 
mander, and of being hung if he obey him. If the 
seaman were allowed to dispute the orders of his 
captain, there could be no such thing as command 
kept up at sea." 

The court replied, " The crew, of which you were 
one, took a share of the plunder ; they mutinied 
several times ; they undertook to control the cap- 
tain ; they paid no regard to the commission ; they 
acted in all things according to the customs of 
pirates. You are guilty, and must be hanged." He 
was hanged. 

Kidd was tried for piracy, and for the murder of 
William Moore. He was not allowed counsel, but 
was left to make his own defence. On the whole, he 



92 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

appeared remarkably well while passing through this 
dreadful ordeal. In opening his defence, he said: 

" I was a merchant in New York, in good repute 
and in good circumstances, when I was solicited to 
engage, under the royal commission, in the laud- 
able employment of suppressing piracy. I had no 
need of embarking myself in piratic adventures. 
The men were generally desperate characters, and 
they rose in mutiny against me. I lost all control 
over them. They did as they pleased. They threat- 
ened to shoot me in my cabin. Ninety-five deserted 
at one time, and destroyed my boat. I was thus dis- 
abled from bringing the ship home. Consequently 
I could not bring the prizes before any court .to 
have them regularly condemned. They were all 
taken by virtue of the commission, under the Broad 
Seal, and they had French papers." 

When the jury was impanelled, and he was in- 
vited to find cause, if he wished to do so, for the ex- 
clusion of any of them, he replied : 

" I shall challenge none. I know nothing to the 
contrary but that they are all honest men." 

Kidd was greatly agitated during the trial, and 
frequently interrupted the court with his exclama- 
tions and explanations. He was first tried for the 
murder of William Moore. This indictment gave a 
very particular account of the event, stating that 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 93 

the gunner died of a mortal bruise received at the 
hands of the captain ; that from the thirtieth day 
of October to the one-and-thirtieth day, he did 
languish and languishing did live, but that on the 
one-and-thirtieth day he did die ; and that William 
Kidd,. feloniously, voluntarily, and of malice afore- 
thought, did kill and murder him." 

To this Kidd replied, and probably with entire 
truth, as we have before said, that he had no inten- 
tion of killing the man ; that he struck him down to 
quell a mutiny, and to prevent the crew from en- 
gaging in an atrocious act of piracy ; that his con- 
science never had condemned him for the deed, and 
that he then felt that for it he merited approb- on 
rather than censure. 

He told a very plain, simple story, which, if true, 
and its truth could not be disproved,. would exon- 
erate him in this affair from blame. The intelligent 
reader of this narrative will perceive that there were 
many corroborative circumstances to substantiate 
the accuracy of his account. 

" I will inform the court," he said, " of the facts 
precisely as they occurred in this case. We were 
within about three miles of the Dutch ship, when I 
perceived that many of my men were in a state of 
mutiny, clamoring for her capture. Moore, address- 
ing the mutineers, said that he could propose a plan 



94 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

by which the ship could be captured, and yet all 
who were engaged in the enterprise might be per- 
fectly safe. 

" 'And how is that to be done,' I inquired ? 

" He replied, ' We will hail the ship, and have the 
captain and officers invited on board to visit our 
officers. While they are in the cabin with our cap- 
tain, we will man the boats and plunder the ship. 
The captain will shut his eyes and close his ears, 
and then he and the officers can testify that the 
ship was not captured. 

" To this I said, ' This would be Judas-like treach- 
ery, to rob the ship under the guise of friendship. I 
dare not do such a thing.' 

"'We must do it,' Moore replied. 'We are 
already beggars. We have no other resource. You 
have brought us to utter ruin.' 

" ' Shall we be guilty of the crime,' I said, ' of cap- 
turing this ship because we are poor?' 

" Upon this Moore and the mutineers were so 
violent that I seized a slush-bucket, which chanced 
to be at hand. With it I struck him in my passion, 
not intending to kill him. If I had premeditated 
his death, I should not have made use of so rude 
and chance-directed a weapon. I am heartily sorry 
that I killed him. And if the deed cannot be justi- 
fied as a preventive of mutiny, it certainly should 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 95 

not be adjudged anything more than manslaugh- 
ter." 

There was much force in these arguments. It 
is at least doubtful whether an intelligent jury of 
the present day would under such testimony have 
brought in a verdict of guilty of murder in the first 
degree. One who has carefully examined all the 
proceedings of the court on this occasion, writes : 

" Yet, it being determined to hang him at all 
odds, the lawyers were given hints, the witnesses 
were browbeaten, and the jury were instructed, 
after tedious iteration, to bring him in guilty." 

This was done. He was pronounced to be the 
murderer of John Moore, and was, for that crime, 
doomed to die. 

The next day he was tried on the indictment foi 
piracy. Two of his crew, who, by their confession, 
were sharers in his piratic adventures, turned state's 
evidence. One of these was a deck hand, by the 
name of Palmer. The other was a surgeon, Bra- 
dingham by name. Kidd closely cross-examined 
them, but their stories perfectly agreed, being 
straightforward and consistent. 

" Kidd's only defence was that he had acted only 
as a privateersman, under his Majesty's commission. 
He declared that he had never captured a ship 
which he had not evidence was a French ship, be- 



96 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

longing to French owners, and sailing under French 
papers. It scarcely admits of a doubt that this 
statement was utterly false. Kidd assumed of both 
of the witnesses against him that they were misera- 
ble vagabonds, whose testimony was unworthy of 
the slightest credence. In reference to the testi- 
mony of Bradingham, he exclaimed : 

" This man contradicts himself in a hundred 
places. He tells a thousand lies. He knows no 
more of these things than you do. This fellow used 
to sleep five or six months together in the hold." 

At another time, when the testimony was going 
strongly against him, he cried out bitterly: 

" It is hard that the life of one of the king's sub- 
jects should be taken away upon the perjured oaths 
of such villains as these. Because I would not yield 
to their wishes, and turn pirate, they now endeavor 
to prove that I was one." 

When the solicitor general asked if Kidd had 
any further questions to put to the witnesses, he 
despairingly replied : 

" No ! no. Bradingham is saving his life by 
taking away mine. I will not trouble the court any 
more, for it is a folly. So long as these men swear 
as they do, no oaths of mine will be of any avail." 

The verdict of guilty was rendered. The judge 
pronounced the awful doom: 



ARREST, TRIAL, AND CONDEMNATION. 97 

" William Kidd, the sentence that the law hath 
appointed to pass upon you for your offences, and 
which this court doth therefore award, is, that you, 
the said William Kidd, shall go from hence to the 
place from whence you came, and from thence to 
the place of execution, where you shall be hanged by 
the neck until you are dead. And may the God of 
infinite mercy be merciful to your soul." 

Kidd replied, " My lord, it is a very hard sen- 
tence. For my part, I am the most innocent person 
of them all. I have been sworn against by perjured 
persons." 

5 



CHAPTER V. 

Kidd, and Stede Bonnet. 

The Guilt of Kidd. — Rumors of Buried Treasure. — Mesmeric Reve* 
lation. — Adventures of Bradish. — Strange Character of Major 
Bonnet. — His Piracies. — Encounters. — Indications of Insanity. 
— No Temptation to Turn Pirate. — Blackbeard. — Bonnet De- 
posed. 

Mr. Charles Elliot, in his History of New Eng- 
land, writes : " It seems to have been felt necessary by 
those who were charged, in England, with complici- 
ty with Captain Kidd, that a vigorous prosecution 
should be urged, and that an example should be 
made of him, to satisfy a clamorous public opinion. 
He was brought to trial, and was convicted and sen- 
tenced for the murder of William Moore, one of 
his own sailors, whom he had struck in an alterca- 
tion. 

" This appears to have been the only blood laid 
against him ; and the charge of piracy could hardly 
have been proved. As was the custom of that day, 
Kidd was not allowed counsel. He plead his com- 
missions for what he had done, but was roughly 
treated by the court ; and Livingston, who was one 



KIDD, AND STEDE BONNET. 99 

of his partners and sureties, had got possession of 
his papers, and refused to give them up to him. 

" Kidd probably had no idea of being charged 
with piracy, nor did he consider himself a pirate ; 
and if there had been no charge made against his 
partners, he would not have died on the gallows. 
He was hanged at Execution Dock, May 12, 1701 ; 
and all England was agog with the doings of the 
pirate Kidd. It was a mere accident that Kidd 
was hanged as a pirate instead of being feasted as a 
victor." 

These scenes occurred one hundred and seventy- 
five years ago. And yet, for some inexplicable rea- 
son, while hundreds of other events of vastly greater 
moment have passed into oblivion, the name of 
Captain Kidd, from that hour to this, has been almost 
a household word in both England and America. 

Many believed that the Quedagh Merchant, in- 
stead of being burned at sea, was brought into the 
Hudson River at night, and sunk near the Highlands, 
with most of her treasure on board. Several circum- 
stances seemed to corroborate this assertion. At the 
base of the Dunderberg, there could be seen sunk, 
deep in the bed of the river, and almost buried in 
its sands, the wreck of some large ship. A pamphlet 
was published,- entitled : 

"An Account of Some of the Traditions and 



IOC CAPTAIN KIDD. 

Experiments Respecting Captain Kidd's Piratical 
Vessel." 

The traditions here referred to asserted that 
Kidd's vessel, the Quedagh Merchant, laden with 
the treasures of the East, was chased up the North 
River by an English man-of-war. Kidd, finding 
escape impossible, collected as much money as he 
could carry, and set fire to the ship, having left by 
far the larger part of the gold and silver on board. 
With a portion of the crew he ascended the river 
much farther, in boats, and then crossed the country, 
through the wilderness, to Boston. 

These traditions are embellished with many ro- 
mantic stories. It is said that as he and his piratic 
comrades were journeying along, they came to a log 
house in the woods. The man of the household was 
absent at his work. The woman, thinking that they 
were savages, in terror fled at their approach. In 
her fright she left one of her children behind. The 
bloodthirsty pirate, Kidd, in pure wantoness thrust 
his sword through the child. 

An old Indian, who had wandered far away to 
Michigan, declared that he was on the river-bank 
when the pirates set fire to the ship and took to 
their boats. Very graphically he described the 
midnight scene as, buried in the glooms of the for- 
est, he witnessed it in the brilliant illumination of 



KIDD, AND STEDE BONNET. 10 1 

the blazing vessel. He was induced to come all the 
way from Michigan to the Hudson to point out the. 
spot of the sunken vessel. And deep in the water 
the charred timbers were to be seen. Another 
pamphlet was published, entitled : 

" A Wonderful Mesmeric Revelation, giving an 
Account of the Discovery and Description of a 
Sunken Vessel, near Caldwell's Landing, supposed 
to be that of the Pirate Kidd ; including an Account 
of his Character and Death, at a distance of nearly 
three hundred miles from the place." 

This strange mesmeric revelation came from a 
Mrs. Chester, the wife of Charles Chester, of Lynn, 
Massachusetts. She declared that she had never 
heard anything about the sunken vessel ; that never 
had she been upon the Hudson River; that she had 
never read or heard of the career of Kidd ; and that 
she had never even been spoken to upon the subject, 
until, when placed in the magnetic state, the extra- 
ordinary revelation had been made to her. 

While in this mesmeric condition, she saw, with 
clearest vision, the sunken vessel. Her eyes, with 
supernatural powers, pierced water, timbers, sand, 
and chests. There she saw bars of massive gold, 
heaps of silver coin, and precious jewels, including 
many large and brilliant diamonds. The jewels had 
been enclosed in shot-bags of stout canvas. The 



102 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

bags had decayed, and the jewels were clustered in 
brilliant heaps. She also saw " gold watches, like 
ducks' eggs in a pond of water," and the wonderfully 
preserved remains of a very beautiful woman, with a 
necklace of large and lustrous diamonds around her 
neck. 

A man was seen just leaving the spot, who was 
preternaturally revealed to Mrs. Chester as Captain 
Kidd. He was a large, stout man, not very tall, 
with broad chest and shoulders, thick neck, aquiline 
nose, piercing eyes, and a head indicative of great 
power and all destructive qualities. 

A very able writer in the Merchant's Magazine, 
of 1846, writes sarcastically of this mesmeric an- 
nouncement : 

" This most singular revelation, as it is corrobo- 
rated by the traditions, presents us with another tri- 
umph of animal magnetism, and must serve not only 
to advance that science, but to demonstrate how 
much safer it is to rely upon tradition, than upon 
record evidence made in courts of justice held con- 
temporaneously with the events, or official docu- 
ments preserved in the public archives. 

" In the present case, mesmerism has taken a 
progressive step ; for it has not only disclosed what 
is now to be found in the waters of Cocks-rack, but 
also who was there one hundred and forty-five years 



KIDD, AND STEDE BONNET. 103 

ago. In this new application of the science we may 
hope not only to see the earth disembowelled, but 
the very forms and features of the ancient time 
brought up to our present view. 

" What is more remarkable, if the traditions ex- 
isted, as is pretended, is, that no individual or com- 
pany should have undertaken, when the witnesses 
were living, to raise the vessel, especially as so many 
persons were found, near the time of the transactions 
of Kidd, credulous enough to ruin themselves in vain 
explorations after his money. But that perhaps was 
not an age of enterprise like the present, nor of 
humbug." 

There is usually some ground for a tradition. 
Its basis is generally truth. 

As we have mentioned, in the days of Captain 
Kidd the seas were swarming with pirates. It would 
require volumes to relate their adventures. Many 
of these lawless men performed deeds far more ex- 
traordinary and infamous than any perpetrated by 
Kidd. There was, however, at that time,, a pirate 
by the name of Bradish, whose actions, in the popu- 
lar mind, were blended with those of Kidd. 

He was boatswain of a ship, of the same name 
with that in which Kidd sailed from New York, the 
Adventure. The ship was bound to Borneo, the 
largest island in the world, if Australia is recognized 



/ 



104 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

as a continent, and sailed from England in March, 
1697. On the voyage the vessel stopped at the 
Island of Polonais for water. Bradish, a desperate 
man, had formed a conspiracy with several of the 
sailors to watch their opportunity, seize the ship, 
and set out on a piratic cruise. 

At Polonais, the captain and several of his of- 
ficers went on shore in one of the boats. Bradish 
assumed the command, silently raised the anchor, 
spread the sail, and ran out to sea. The wide world 
was before them to ' go where they pleased. The 
commerce of the seas spread its wealth for their 
plunder. There was the sum of about forty 
thousand dollars in gold on board. This money 
Bradish divided equally with his piratic crew. He 
then cleared his decks for action, placed a lookout 
at the mast-head, and commenced his cruise in search 
of additional treasure. 

They directed their course toward the American 
coast. What vessels they captured on the way is 
not known. Upon reaching Long Island, Bradish 
went ashore and deposited with some confederate 
there a large amount of money and jewels. If pur- 
sued by a man-of-war, he could easily run his vessel 
ashore, and the crew could disperse through the 
woods. Much of his treasure would still be safe. 

He ran along to Block Island. Here they pur- 



KIDD, AND STEDE BONNET. I05 

chased two small vessels, and, dividing into two par- 
tions, separated, each party taking its share of the 
remaining treasure. It is said that there was enough 
to load both of the small vessels. Many of the men 
landed on the Rhode Island and Connecticut shore. 
They behaved very civilly ; called at the farm-houses, 
and bought horses and food, for which they paid 
abundantly. The rumor of the landing and disper- 
sion of the pirates spread. A proclamation was 
issued for their arrest. The captain and about 
eighteen of the men were apprehended, sent to Eng- 
land, tried, and executed. What became of the 
large ship, the Adventure, is not known. 

By many it was supposed that she ran into the 
North River, and was scuttled and abandoned when 
near the Highlands. 

We now bid adieu to Captain Kidd, leaving it 
with our readers to form their own opinion, from the 
facts here given, of the degree of praise or blame to 
be attached to his character. 

About the same time when William Kidd was 
passing through his strange adventures, there was 
another buccaneer appearing upon the stage, whose 
character and career were still more astonishing. 
There was a gentleman in Barbadoes, of wealth, 
position, and education, by the name of Stede 
Bonnet. He had a large fortune, and was highly 
5* 



IOO CAPTAIN KIDD. 

esteemed for his intellectual culture and his honora- 
ble character. He seemed to be exposed to no temp- 
tation whatever to enter upon the guilty and perilous 
life of a pirate. His melancholy fate excited pity 
rather than condemnation, as it was generally be- 
lieved that he was the victim of some strange men- 
tal hallucination, which, in some degree at least, 
exonerated him from moral responsibility. 

Some domestic griefs rendered him unhappy in 
his home. He fitted out, entirely at his own ex- 
pense, a sloop armed with ten guns, and manned by 
seventy sailors, desperate men, ready for any deeds 
of violence and crime. The sloop he named the 
Revenge. It was his avowed intention to prey upon 
the Spanish commerce, which none of the English 
courts would then punish as piracy. 

But he immediately entered upon the career of a 
pirate, capturing and plundering every vessel he 
came across, without any regard to the flag under 
which she sailed. His first cruise was off the Capes 
of Virginia. The first vessel he encountered was 
the Anne, from Glasgow. A few cannon-balls thrown 
across her bows brought her to. His boats, filled 
with demoniac men armed to the teeth, boarded 
the ill-fated prize, and plundered her of everything 
the pirates desired, money, clothes provisions, and 
ammunition. The ship was then allowed to go on 
her way. 



KIDD, AND STEDE BONNET. 107 

A day or two passed, and another sail was dis- 
cerned in the distant horizon. She was soon over- 
taken by the swift-sailing sloop, which spread a won- 
derful cloud of canvas. It proved to be the Turbet, 
from his own island, Barbadoes. Instead of treating 
her kindly on that account, he plundered her mer- 
cilessly, put the crew in boats, to find their way to the 
shore as they best could, and set the vessel on fire. 

Scarcely had the smoke and flame of the burn- 
ing vessel vanished from their view, when another 
sail was descried. She proved to be the Endeavor, 
from Bristol. She was robbed of everything valu- 
able. Another vessel soon underwent the same 
fate. It was the Young, from Leith. 

Stede Bonnet was no sailor. He had no 
acquaintance with navigation. He, however, em- 
ployed skilled seaman to manage the ship in obe- 
dience to his commands as owner of the whole con- 
cern. After this short and very successful cruise 
on the Virginia coast, he ordered the sloop to be 
taken to the shores of New England. As they were 
passing the eastern end of Long Island, they met a 
vessel bound from one of the New England colonies 
to the West Indies. It was promptly plundered. 

Stede Bonnet stood in for Gardiner's Island, 
where he landed with a portion of his crew. He 
behaved in a very gentlemanly way, addressing all 



108 CAPTAIN KIDD. 

whom he met courteously, making many purchases 
and paying liberally for all he took. He then di- 
rected his course to South Carolina, and ran up and 
down before the harbor of Charleston. Two vessels, 
entering the harbor, he seized almost at the same 
time. One was a sloop from Barbadoes, laden with 
rum, sugar, and negroes. The other was a brigantine 
from New England. The hold of the Revenge was 
already packed full of plunder ; and they had no 
room for the negroes. Taking, therefore, such few 
articles as they needed, they landed the crew and 
the negroes on an island, and wantonly ran the 
Barbadoes sloop ashore and set her on fire. The 
New England brigantine they plundered of all the 
money on board and such other articles of value as 
they needed, and let her go. 

While on this cruise they met, in rogues' compa- 
nionship, another piratic ship, commanded by a des- 
perado, an Englishman, by the name of Edward 
Teach. From the mass of hair which covered his 
face he was known by the name of Blackbeard. His 
beard came up to his eyes, was intensely black, and 
so long that he was accustomed to braid it and twist 
it with ribbons into cues, or tails, which he would 
hang over his ears. It is said that in aspect he was 
a revolting monster. This villain had captured a 
large and very strongly built East-Indian ship, upon 



KIDD, AND STEDE BONNET. IOg 

which he had mounted forty he?.vy guns. With 
this powerful armament he swept the seas, bidding 
defiance to all assailants. Upon one occasion he 
encountered a British man-of-war of thirty guns. 
After sustaining an action of some hours, the man-of- 
war fled before him, and took shelter in the harbor of 
Barbadoes, under protection of the guns of the fort. 

As Teach continued his triumphant cruise, he 
came across Bonnet's piratic sloop. Finding that 
Bonnet understood nothing of maritime affairs, he, 
without difficulty, got up a conspiracy among his 
men, deposed him, and placed one of his own crew, 
a man by the name of Richards, in command of the 
Revenge. Thus he had two vessels with which to 
prosecute his lawless career. He took the deposed 
captain on board his own ship, saying to him with a 
sarcastic smile : 

" I perceive, my dear sir, that you are not used 
to the cares and fatigues of commanding a vessel, 
and I will relieve you from them. It will be much 
pleasanter for you to live at your ease in my cabin. 
There you will have no duty to perform, and can 
follow your own inclinations." 

The career of this most ferocious of pirates was 
so strange that we must leave Stede Bonnet for a 
time, and devote a chapter to that fiend in human 
form, called Blackbeard. 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Adventures of Edivard Teach, or Blackbeard. 

Seizure of the Protestant Caesar. — The Piratic Squadron.— Villany 
of the Buccaneers. — The Atrocities of Blackbeard. — Illustrative 
Anecdotes. — Carousals on Shore. — Alleged Complicity with the 
Governor. — Hiding-place near Ocracoke Inlet. — Arrangements 
for his Capture. — Boats sent from two Men-of-war. — Bloody 
Battle. — The Death of the Pirate. — His Desperate and De- 
moniac Character. 

Blackbeard having, as it were, captured the 
Revenge, raised the black flag of piracy upon both 
of his vessels. Soon he captured a third vessel, 
which he manned and armed and added to his pira- 
tic squadron. Entering the Bay of Honduras, he 
took a ship, from Boston, called the Protestant 
Caesar, and four sloops. Captain Wyar, of the Prot- 
estant Caesar, as the pirates' balls whistled over his 
decks, abandoned his ship, and taking to his boats, 
with all his crew, escaped to the shore. One of the 
sloops also belonged to Boston. After plundering 
the ship and sloop of all they wanted, they set both 
on fire, in revenge, because they belonged to Boston, 
where some men had been hung for piracy. The 
other three sloops they plundered and then let go. 



EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. Ill 

They then continued their cruise, for some time, 
among the West India Islands, capturing vessel 
after vessel. Thence sailing to the South Caroli- 
nian coast, they ran up and down before the harbor 
of Charleston for a week. Here they took a ship, 
bound out for London, with several passengers, 
Captain Robert Clark commander. They also cap- 
tured three vessels entering the port, one of which 
had fourteen negroes on board. 

Such a strong piratic force appearing before that 
important harbor, struck the whole province with 
terror. They were quite unable to resist such an 
armament. There were eight vessels in the harbor 
ready for sea. They dared not venture out, and 
even feared that the pirates would come into the 
harbor and take them. The trade of the place was 
thus, for a season, utterly destroyed. It added 
much to the weight of this calamity that the prov- 
ince had just passed through an expensive and ex- 
haustive war with the Indians. 

Teach was in great want of medicines. He 
therefore detained all the vessels he had taken, 
with their crews and passengers, and sent Captain 
Richards, in the Revenge, to Charleston, with the 
following message to the governor : 

" I want a chest of medicines. Send me such a 
chest, by the bearer. If you do not comply with 



112 EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 

this my demand immediately, without offering any 
violence to the persons of my ambassadors, I will 
cut off the heads of all the prisoners in my hands, 
and send them to you, and will burn all the ships." 

Mr. Marks, one of the prisoners, was sent with 
Richards and the other pirates to present this de- 
mand. While Mr. Marks was making this applica- 
tion to the governor and council, Richards and his 
piratic gang were insolently riding through the 
streets, with sabres in their hands and pistols in 
their belts. The citizens were in a state of the 
highest indignation ; and yet they dared not speak 
a word or even look with a frown. The villains 
returned to their ships with impunity, bearing a 
chest of medicines valued at two thousand dollars. 
The lives of so many husbands, sons, and brothers 
were at stake that the community was eager to con- 
ciliate the pirates. 

Blackbeard, having received the chest, liberated 
the vessels and the prisoners. He had taken from 
the vessels gold and silver coin to the amount of 
seven thousand dollars, besides provisions and other 
articles of much value. They then sailed to the 
coast of North Carolina. Blackbeard's ship they 
called the Man-of-War. One sloop, as we have men- 
tioned, was commanded by Richards. Blackbeard 
placed upon another, as commander, a fellow by the 



EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 113 

name of Hands. He had also another vessel, which 
served as a tender. Thus this piratic squadron was 
now composed of four vessels. 

The amount of plunder, in money and goods, 
was very great. Blackbeard formed a plan to secure 
nearly the whole for himself, and for a few others 
of his favorites in the gang. He therefore, under 
pretence of running his ship into Ocracoke Inlet 
for repairs, grounded her. He summoned Hands' 
sloop to his aid and ran her on shore. 

He then went on board the tender sloop, where 
he had assembled his confederates, forty in number, 
and had stored all the coin and many of the most 
valuable goods. Seventeen of the crew, whom he 
wished to get rid of, he landed on a small, sandy 
island three miles from the mainland. Here they 
were exposed to perish, without food or water, or 
any opportunity to escape. There was neither bird, 
beast, nor herbs on the island. 

The king, as we have mentioned, had issued a 
proclamation of pardon for all the pirates who would 
surrender themselves. This consummate villain, with 
about twenty of his comrades, sailed to the residence 
of the governor, and surrendered themselves to his 
majesty's proclamation, and received a full pardon for 
all their past offences, while they still retained their 
ill-gotten wealth. This was done with no intention 



114 EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 

of abandoning their mode of life, but only to obtain 
a respite, and prepare for future operations. 

Bonnet was left behind, with the Revenge. He 
again, with a portion of the men, assumed the com- 
mand of the ship, of which he had been robbed. 
But we must leave him for a time until we have 
followed out the career of Blackbeard. 

Charles Eden was then governor of North Caro- 
lina. He was either a very corrupt man Or a very 
simple one. The governor gave Blackbeard full 
possession of the ship he had captured, and which 
he had named the Queen Anne's Revenge. A court 
of admiralty was held, and though Teach had never 
received any commission as a privateersman, and it 
was a time of peace, and the Queen Anne belonged 
to English merchants, she was condemned as a prize 
taken from the Spaniards, and adjudged to belong 
to Teach. 

Blackbeard remained for a few weeks at the cap- 
ital of the province ; paid his addresses to a beauti- 
ful young girl of sixteen, and was married to her by 
the governor, who had probably received very rich 
presents from the pirate. His biographer says that 
this was the fourteenth wife of Teach, twelve of 
whom were still living. Soon he again went to sea, 
beneath the pirate's black flag. He directed his 
course toward the West Indies, capturing two or^ 



EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 11$ 

three English ships by the way, which he plundered, 
but left the ships and crew unharmed. He then cap- 
tured two French ships. The cargoes of both he 
stored in one. The crews of both he placed in the 
other, and turned them adrift. With his rich prize 
he returned to North Carolina, and shared the booty 
with the governor. 

Blackbeard and four of his crew went ashore, and 
took a solemn oath that they found the French ship 
at sea abandoned, and without a soul on board. It 
is curious to witness the expedients to which men 
will resort to appease the qualms of conscience. After 
removing all the ship's company from their prize the 
captain and a boat's crew boarded her, and truly 
found her " without a soul on board." Thus they 
satisfied themselves that they did not take a false 
oath. In accordance with this testimony the court 
adjudged the French vessel to be a lawful prize. The 
governor had sixty hogsheads of sugar for his share. 
Mr. Knight, his secretary, collector of the port, had 
twenty. All the remainder of the booty the pirates 
divided among themselves. 

The French vessel was still on the pirate's hands. 
He greatly feared that some vessel might come into 
the river acquainted with her, and that his villany 
might be discovered. He set her on fire, and burn- 
ing her to the water's edge, her bottom sunk. 



Il6 EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 

Blackbeard remained for some time cruising along 
the shores of Pamlico Sound. He was rich, and 
prodigal of his wealth. Sometimes, in mere wanton- 
ness, he would plunder a vessel. Again he would 
purchase articles, paying for them three or four 
times their worth. 

He often went ashore with his armed followers, 
and spent the night and sometimes days in boister- 
ous revelry. The planters did not dare to make any 
remonstrances. He was a brutal wretch, and often, 
when frenzied with drink, the wives and daughters 
of the planters were exposed to the most terrible 
indignities. At times he was very courteous, pre- 
senting his entertainers with rum, sugar, and other 
valuable articles. He frequently assumed a very 
lordly air, levying heavy contributions, and even 
bullying the governor, simply to show him what he 
dared to do. 

The traders and planters consulted together to 
decide what course to pursue in this terrible emer- 
gence. It was plain that the governor was either in 
complicity with the pirate or was overawed by him. 
It was in vain, therefore, to hope for redress through 
his interposition. They, therefore, as secretly as 
possible, sent to the governor of Virginia, solicit- 
ing an armed force from the men-of-war then lying 



EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. WJ 

before Jamestown, to take and destroy this formi- 
dable pirate. 

There were two men-of-war in the James River, 
the Pearl and the Lime. The governor consulted 
with the two commanders. It was agreed between 
them that the governor should hire two small 
sloops, of light draft, which could run easily into the 
coves and among the shoals of Pamlico Sound. 
The men-of-war were to place on board these sloops 
a strong picked crew of thoroughly armed men. 
They were to take small arms alone, as mounted 
cannon would require such depths of water as to 
embarrass their operations. These sloops, rapidly 
propelled by both sails and oars, could follow the 
pirate in all his coverts ; could overtake him should 
he attempt to escape by flight, and, by simulta- 
neously boarding the piratic craft, could overpower 
and cut down the crew. 

The expedition was speedily fitted out. At the 
same time the Virginia governor issued a proclama- 
tion, offering a reward of five hundred dollars for the 
capture, dead or alive, of Captain Teach, commonly 
called Blackbeard ; two hundred dollars for every 
other commander of a pirate ship ; for all inferior of- 
ficers seventy-five dollars ; for every pirate on board 
such ship forty dollars. This proclamation, a copy 
of which now lies before me, was dated at Williams- 



Il8 EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 

burg, November 24th, 171 8, and was signed by the 
governor, A. Spottswood. 

On the 2 1st of November the two sloops entered 
the mouth of Ocracoke Inlet, and caught sight of the 
pirate. The governor of North Carolina, and his 
secretary, Mr. Knight, hearing of these preparations, 
and fearing that the capture of the pirate would 
bring their misdeeds to light, sent him warning of 
his danger. Knight wrote to him : 

" I have sent you four of your men. They are 
all I can meet with about town. Be upon your 
guard." 

Blackbeard, one of the most reckless and deter- 
mined of desperadoes, put his vessel in posture for 
defence. He had with him then a crew of but 
twenty-five men. Seeing the approach of the sloops, 
and anticipating a battle with the morning's dawn, 
he spent the night in drunken carousals. Lieutenant 
Maynard, in command of the expedition, found the 
water too shoal and the channel too intricate for him 
to reach the ship that night. Under cover of the 
darkness he sent out a boat to mark the way. 

The morning was cloudless and calm. There 
was scarcely a breath of wind ; and not a ripple was 
to be seen on the mirrored surface of the Sound. 
There was no escape for the pirate. The gentle 
breath which swept the waters was fair. The sloops 



EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. II9 

spread their sails, and with lusty arms at the oars 
bore down upon the pirate. As they approached, 
Blackbeard stood upon his deck, and with revolting 
oaths, which we shall omit, interlarding his speech, 
shouted out : 

" You villains, who are you, and what do you 
want ? " 

" Our colors show," Lieutenant Maynard replied, 
" that we are no pirates." 

" Send your boat on board," exclaimed Black- 
beard, "that I may learn who you are." 

" I have no boat to spare," Maynard responded ; 
" but as soon as I can reach you with my sloops, I 
will come on board myself." 

Blackbeard took a tumbler of raw brandy. "As 
he poured the burning fluid down his throat he ex- 
claimed : 

" May damnation seize my soul if I give you any 
quarter, or take any from you." 

" I expect no quarter," Maynard responded ; 
" neither do I ask for any." 

The gunwale of Maynard's sloop, which took the 
lead, was scarcely a foot high. The men on the deck 
were entirely exposed. Blackbeard poured in upon 
them a broadside of grape-shot. The carnage was 
awful. Twenty men, by that one discharge, were 
either killed or wounded. Maynard, apprehensive 



120 EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 

of another discharge, ordered all the survivors im- 
mediately into the hold, he alone remaining on deck, 
at the helm. The men were directed to have their 
swords and pistols ready for a rush in boarding, the 
moment the command should be given. 

As the sloop approached the pirate they threw 
in upon her deck a new sort of hand-grenades. They 
consisted of common junk bottles, filled with powder, 
balls, and slugs, and were exploded by a fuse passing 
through the mouth. They would have done great 
execution had not the men been concealed in the 
hold. 

The moment the bows of the sloop touched the 
pirate's ship, as the smoke cleared away a little, 
Blackbeard, seeing but few on deck, shouted to his 
men : 

" The villains are all knocked in the head, ex- 
cepting three or four. Let us jump on board and 
cut them down." 

The order was instantly obeyed. Fourteen 
pirates, with flashing sabres', leaped over the bows 
of Maynard's sloop, upon his deck. There were but 
twelve men unwounded in the hold. At a given 
signal they rushed up, and a battle of utter despera- 
tion ensued. 

Blackbeard sprang toward Lieutenant Maynard, 
who was at the helm. Their pistols were discharged 



EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 121 

simultaneously. The pirate received a slight, but 
not a disabling wound. They rushed upon each 
other with their swords. In the fierce conflict the 
blade of Maynard's sword broke in his hand. He 
stepped back to cock a pistol. Blackbeard was just 
in the act of cutting him down, when one of May- 
nard's men struck him from behind, inflicting a ter- 
rible gash upon his neck. At the same moment the 
desperado, who seemed to be almost insensible to 
wounds, received a shot in his body from the lieu- 
tenant's pistol. 

The other sloop, called the Ranger, now came 
up and boarded the pirate. Blackbeard fought like 
a tiger. At length a pistol-shot pierced some vital 
part and he fell dead, after having received twenty- 
five wounds. Eight more of the pirates who had 
boarded Maynard's sloop were weltering in their 
blood. The rest, many of them severely wounded, 
leaped overboard. The drowning wretches cried 
for quarter. It was granted. They were reserved 
only that they might be hanged. 

Blackbeard's head was cut from his body, and 
hung at the end of the bowsprit of Maynard's sloop. 
With this revolting trophy he sailed into Newbern 
to obtain relief for his wounded men. In examining 
the papers found on board the pirate's vessel, the cor- 
respondence was discovered between Governor Eden 
6 



122 EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEAR-D. 

and his secretary with the pirate. There were also 
several merchants in New York who were in friend- 
ly communication with him. These papers would 
doubtless have been destroyed had it not been for the 
desperate resolve which the pirate had formed. 

Blackbeard had but little hope of escaping. He 
therefore posted one of the most demoniac of the 
pirates, with a match, in the powder-room. Assuring 
him that if they were taken they would assuredly 
be hanged, and that it was far" better to. die by their 
own action, in an instant, than to perish upon the 
scaffold, he instructed him that should the ship be 
boarded and captured, he was to apply the match 
and blow them all up together. It chanced that 
there were two prisoners in the ship's hold. They 
seized the pirate, and prevented him from executing 
his design. 

It was this same Blackbeard, to whom we have 
already alluded, who one day, when flushed with 
drink, said to his boon companions : 

" Come, let us make a hell of our own, and see 
who can stand it longest." 

One night, when drinking, in his cabin, with two 
or three companions, he secretly drew out a small 
pair of pistols, blew out the candle, and, crossing his 
hands, discharged them at random into the midst of 
the company. One of the bullets struck an officer 



EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 1 23 

on the knee, and crippled him for life. The other 
bullet fortunately harmed no one. Being asked 
why he did this, he replied : 

" If I did not now "and then kill some of you, you 
would forget who I am." 

The following entries were found in his log-book, 
written with his own hand, under different dates: 

" Rum all out ; our company somewhat sober. 

" A damned confusion among us ; rogues allot- 
ting. 

" Great talk of separation. 

" Took a vessel with a great deal of liquor on 
board ; so kept the company hot; damned hot." 

It is evident that these godless wretches passed 
joyless and miserable lives. Experience verifies the 
declaration of the Bible that "the way of the trans- 
gressor is hard." 

The ship and stores captured by Lieutenant 
Maynard were in value estimated at but twelve 
thousand five hundred dollars. Though this wretch- 
ed pirate had squandered his plunder with great 
prodigality, it was generally supposed that he had 
valuable treasure secreted. In the carousal of the 
night before his capture, one of the men asked if, 
in case anything should happen to him in the en- 
gagement, his wife knew where he had buried his 
money. He replied, " The devil and I alone know 



124 EDWARD TEACH, OR BLACKBEARD. 

where it is. The one of us two who lives the longest 
will have the whole." 

There were sixteen pirates, all of whom were 
wounded, who were taken prisoners. They were con- 
veyed to Virginia and hanged, excepting two who 
were pardoned. Governor Eden was so terrified by 
the discovery which had been made of his complicity 
with Blackbeard, and so apprehensive that he would 
be called to account for his conduct, that he fell sick 
with the fright, and in a few days died. His sixty 
hogsheads of sugar, and the twenty which had been 
given to Knight, were seized by Lieutenant May- 
nard, and confiscated. Thus all these guilty ones 
were ruined. It is often and truly said, that Satan 
helps his dupes into difficulty, but never helps them 
out. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Close of Stede Bonnet's Career. 

Bonnet's Abandonment by Blackbeard. — Avails Himself of the King's 
Pardon. — Takes Commission as a Privateer. — Rescues Black- 
beard's Pirates. — Piratic Career. — Enters Cape Fear River for 
Repairs. — Captured by Colonel Rhet. — The Conflict. — Escapes 
from Prison. — The Pursuit, and Trial and Sentence. 

IT will be remembered that Stede Bonnet was 
deposed by Blackbeard. When Blackbeard aban- 
doned most of his crew, at Ocracoke Inlet, and 
landed others on a desert island, that he might rob 
them of their share of the spoil, Bonnet was left be- 
hind with the rest. His own sloop, the Revenge, 
was ashore. He got her off, assumed the command, 
manned her with pirates, and sailed to Bathtown, 
where he surrendered himself, taking advantage of 
the king's proclamation, and received a certificate of 
pardon. 

Just then war broke out between England, France, 
and Holland, as allies, on the one hand, and Spain 
upon the other. Bonnet sailed from Bathtown for 
the Island of St. Thomas, to get a commission to go 
privateering against the Spaniards. When he was 



126 STEDE BONNET. 

on his way to the inlet he accidentally learned from 
two of the pirates that Blackbeard and his gang 
were gone ; and that, carrying away all the money 
and effects of value, they had left several men to % 
perish on a desert island. Bonnet sailed for their 
relief. They were nearly starved, and had been a 
day and two nights without any food. Bonnet found 
the island, and rescued them, adding them to his 
crew. 

Then, instead of going to St.Thomas for his com- 
mission, he directed his course to the coast of Vir- 
ginia. Meeting a vessel loaded with provisions, he 
took from it twelve barrels of pork and four hun- 
dred weight of bread. Assuming that he was an 
honest man, and not a pirate, he gave in return 
eight casks of rice and an old cable. No bargain 
was made. He took what he wanted, and gave 
what he pleased. Two days after this, Bonnet pur- 
sued and captured a sloop of sixty tons. It was an 
act of unmitigated piracy. He took from his prize 
two hogsheads of rum and two of molasses. The 
crew were turned adrift. Eight men were sent to 
take charge of the prize. In the night they ran 
away, to go pirating on their own account 

Bonnet threw off all restraint. Assuming the 
name of Captain Thomas, he ranged the seas, plun- 
dering every vessel he encountered. A few miles 



CLOSE OF BONNET'S CAREER. \2 r J 

off from Cape Henry he captured two ships from 
Virginia, bound to Glasgow. They were compara- 
tively valueless prizes, containing only tobacco. 
The next day he captured a small sloop. With the 
strange inconsistency which marked his character, he 
took from the sloop twenty barrels of pork, which 
he replaced by two barrels of rice and a hogshead 
of molasses. From this sloop two men voluntarily 
joined his company. 

The next ship they captured was bound to Glas- 
gow from Virginia. They found nothing on board 
they wanted but some combs, pins, and needles. 
For these Bonnet paid a barrel of pork and two bar- 
rels of bread. Directing his course toward Philadel- 
phia, he captured a schooner bound to Boston. It 
proved a barren prize. 

Soon after this he took three vessels, two bound 
from Philadelphia to Bristol, England, and one to 
Barbadoes. In these Bonnet found nearly a thou-, 
sand dollars in coin. He robbed them and let 
them go. The two last days in July he captured 
two quite rich prizes. They were well supplied 
with provisions, and had between two and three 
thousand dollars in money on board. He turned the 
crews adrift in their boats and kept both the vessels 
and cargo. His own sloop of war, which he had re- 
named the Royal James, had become leaky, and 



128 STEDE BONNET. 

needed repairs. He ran into Cape Fear River to 
find some secluded cove, where, far from observa- 
tion, he could careen his vessel. One hundred and 
fifty years ago this stream presented a vast solitude, 
fringed by the dense and boundless forest. 

As Bonnet was entering the river he captured a 
small vessel, which he ripped to pieces to mend his 
own. In one of the coves of the broad stream he 
was detained two months in making repairs. In the 
mean time a new governor had come to South Caro- 
lina. Tidings reached Charleston that a piratic ves- 
sel, with two prizes, was concealed up the river. 
The whole community was alarmed, fearing another 
visit. The governor and council met to deliberate. 

Colonel William Rhet appeared before them and 
generously offered to fit out two vessels, at his own 
expense, and attack the pirates. His proposal was 
accepted, and a commission granted him accordingly. 
In a few days two sloops "were equipped. One, 
called the Henry, had eight guns and seventy men, 
and was commanded by Captain John Masters. 
The other, the Sea Nymph, of eight guns and sixty 
men, Captain Fayser Hall commanded. Both were 
under the direction of Colonel Rhet. 

On the 14th of September the two vessels 
sailed. When they reached Sullivan's Island, a 
small ship from Antigua came in. The captain 



CLOSE OF BONNET'S CAREER. 1 29 

brought the intelligence that just off the bar he was 
taken and plundered by a piratic vessel of twelve 
guns and ninety men, commanded by Charles Vane ; 
that two other vessels had also been captured, one 
from the coast of Guinea, with between ninety and 
a hundred negro slaves on board. A pirate, by the 
name of Yeats, with twenty-five men, had been 
placed in command of the slaver. Vane had also 
captured two ships bound from Charleston to 
London. 

Colonel Rhet, upon hearing these tidings, resolved 
to pursue Vane. It was rumored > that the pirates 
had sailed south. Colonel Rhet, with his two 
sloops, crossed the bar, on the 15th of Septem- 
ber, and directed his course along the southern 
coast, searching every bay and inlet. Not finding 
Vane, he turned north, and entered Cape Fear River 
in pursuit of his first design. In ascending the river 
both sloops ran aground, which caused considerable 
delay. Thus the watchful pirates learned that there 
were two sloops aground in the river. Bonnet sent 
down three boats, crowded with pirates, to attack 
them. The crews soon found their mistake, and 
rowing hastily back to Bonnet, gave him the 
unwelcome news that two well-armed sloops were 
ascending the river with the evident design to at- 
tack him. 

6* 



I30 STEDE BONNET. 

Bonnet made immediate preparations for a bat 
tie. He had several prisoners with him. He wrote 
a letter to the governor, intrusting it to one of these 
prisoners, Captain Mannering. It was as follows : . 

" If the sloops now ascending the river are sent 
out against me by the governor, I shall get clear 
off. And I will burn and destroy all ships or vessels 
going in or coming out of South Carolina." 

What effect this letter had upon the governor 
we know not. But the next morning the tide 
floated Colonel Rhet's sloops, and he advanced to 
the attack. The masts of the three piratical vessels 
were soon plainly seen over a forest-crowned point 
of land. The sloops pressed forward to attack on 
each quarter of the pirate, intending to board him. 
Bonnet, perceiving this, -edged in as near the shore 
as possible. The water was shoal, and the tide being 
out, soon both sloops ran upon sandbanks. One 
was very near the Royal James, and could open fire 
upon her. The other was at more than gunshot dis- 
tance. The pirates' ship also grounded, and, fortu- 
nately for them, careened over with her deck slop- 
ing from her foe. Thus the sides of the vessel 
afforded a rampart, which protected the pirates 
from shot, and over which they could take deliberate 
aim at their antagonists. 

To add to this calamity, the Henry, in which 



CLOSE OF BONNETS CAREER. 131 

Colonel Rhet was, and which had grounded within 
pistol-shot of the pirate, leaned with her deck 
inclined toward the pirate. Thus every man was 
exposed. This gave the pirates an immense advan- 
tage, which they were not slow to improve. Neither 
of them could use their cannon. For five hours the 
antagonists kept up a brisk fire with their small arms. 
The pirates spread to the breeze their blood-red flag, 
and assailed their foes with oaths, taunts, and insults. 

" Why don't you come on board ? " they shouted, 
" We are all waiting for you. Come as quick as 
you can. We will give you the warmest reception 
you ever had." 

Rhet's men replied, " Be patient. We are busy 
just now. Very soon we will pay you a visit which 
you will never forget." 

The rising tide first floated Colonel Rhet's sloop. 
Hastily repairing his rigging, which had been much 
shattered by the fire, he bore down upon the pirate, 
intending to give a finishing stroke by boarding him. 
The other sloop would, in a few moments, be afloat 
to join in the assault. ■ Bonnet saw his case to be 
hopeless, and sent a boat to Colonel Rhet bearing the 
white flag of truce. After some time spent in capitu- 
tulating, Bonnet was compelled to surrender uncon- 
ditionally. 

In the severe battle which had taken place, ten 



132 STEDE BONNET. 

men had been killed and fourteen wounded on 
board Rhet's sloop, the Henry. Six of the wounded 
died of their wounds. A few shot had struck the 
other sloop, the Sea Nymph, killing two men, and 
wounding four. The pirates, protected by the posi- 
tion of their vessel, lost seven killed, and five wound- 
ed. Two of the latter soon died of their wounds. 

Colonel Rhet weighed anchor on the 13th of Sep- 
tember, and on the 3d of October entered Charleston 
with thirty-four pirates as prisoners, and their ves- 
sels. The capture excited great rejoicing through- 
out the whole province. As there was no public 
prison on the shore, the pirates were all kept, for two 
days, under a careful guard, in the hold of one of the 
vessels. The watch-house was in the mean time en- 
larged and strengthened, and they were transferred 
to that building, over which a guard of the provin- 
cial militia was placed. 

Major Bonnet was committed into the custody 
of the marshal, and imprisoned in a strong room in 
his house. Two of these miserable men, David Ha- 
riot, the sailing-master, and Ignatius Pell, the boat- 
swain, offered to turn state's evidence. They were 
also taken to the house of the marshal, that they 
might be separated from the rest of the crew. They 
were carefully locked up, and two sentinels, every 
night, patrolled the house with loaded muskets. 



CLOSE OF BONNET'S CAREER. 1 33 

Three weeks passed before suitable prepara- 
tions could be made for the trial. On the night 
of the 24th of October, Bonnet and his sailing- 
master made their escape. The boatswain refused 
to go with them, as he was assured of pardon in 
consideration of the evidence he bore against his 
comrades. The flight of the prisoners made a great 
noise throughout the province. The people were 
open in their indignant declaration that the gov- 
ernor, and others of the magistracy, had connived 
at their escape. 

The whole community was panic-stricken. It 
was feared that Bonnet would get up another com- 
pany of pirates, and take a terrible revenge for the 
hanging of his comrades. The government was 
alarmed both by the reproaches and the peril. A 
proclamation was issued offering a reward of three 
thousand five hundred dollars for the capture of the 
fugitive pirate. Several armed boats were sent to 
skirt the shore, north, and south, in pursuit of him. 

Bonnet had, in some way, got on board a small 
sail-boat in the harbor, and put to sea. But a storm 
arose, and he had no provisions. He was therefore 
compelled to put back to Sullivan's Island. In some 
way the governor got an intimation of this. He 
promptly communicated the intelligence to Colonel 
Rhet, and gave him a commission to pursue Bonnet. 



134 STEDE BONNET. 

That night the energetic colonel set out in his sloop, 
with a number of men for Sullivan's Island. The 
two pirates had left their boat at the shore and 
wandered into the woods, where they had concealed 
themselves. Colonel Rhet tracked- them to their 
covert. They were discovered in a thicket, with a 
negro and an Indian. As they endeavored to escape 
they were fired upon. A bullet pierced Hariot's 
heart, and he fell dead. Both the negro and the 
Indian were struck down severely wounded. The 
wretched Bonnet, seeing escape hopeless, and utterly 
disheartened, surrendered. He was carried back to 
Charleston in irons. 

On the twenty-eighth of October, 171 8, a court 
of vice - admiralty was held, and continued, by 
several adjournments, until the twelfth of Novem- 
ber. Nicholas Trot, chief justice of the province 
of South Carolina, presided, with other assistant 
judges. Before this tribunal, Bonnet, and thirty- 
four of his crew, were arraigned. The indictment 
enumerated the various acts of piracy which they 
had committed. All but two pleaded not guilty. 

There was but little defence attempted. The 
crew pleaded that they had -been taken off a desert 
island, and shipped to go to St. Thomas. Being at 
sea, without provisions, and in a starving condition, 
they were compelled, to save their lives, to take 



CLOSE OF BONNET'S CAREER. 135 

some food from other vessels. Major Bonnet took 
the same ground — that they had helped themselves 
to food which did not -belong to them, but as the 
only way by which they could save their lives. 

But their piratic acts were clearly proved, and 
that they had shared among themselves their ill- 
gotten booty. The speech of the lord chief-jus- 
tice, in pronouncing sentence upon Bonnet, was so 
admirable in tone, that it deserves, with slight ab- 
breviation, insertion here : 

" You, Stede Bonnet, stand convicted of piracy. 
It is fully proved that you piratically took and rifled 
no less than thirteen vessels since you sailed from 
North Carolina, having accepted the king's act of 
grace, and pretended to leave that wicked course of 
life. 

" You know that the crimes you have committed 
are contrary to the law of nature, as well as.to the 
law of God, by which you are commanded that you 
shall not steal. And the apostle* Paul expressly af- 
firms that ' thieves shall not inherit the kingdom of 
God.' 

" To theft you have added the greater sin of 
murder. How many you have killed, in your pira- 
cies, I know not. But this we know, that you killed 
no less than eighteen persons of those sent, by lawful 
authority, to put a stop to your rapines. 



136 STEDE BONNET. 

" However you may fancy that that was killing 
men fairly in open fight, yet this know, that the 
power of the sword not being committed into your 
hands, you were not empowered to use any force, or 
fight any one. Therefore those persons that fell in 
the action, in doing their duty to their king and 
country, were murdered. And their blood now cries 
out for vengeance against you, For it is the voice of 
nature, confirmed by the law of God, that 'whoso- 
ever sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood 
be shed.' 

" And consider that death is not the only pun- 
ishment due to murderers ; for they are threatened 
to have ' their part in that lake which burneth with 
fire- and brimstone, which is the second death.' 

" As your own conscience must convince you of 
the many and great evils you have committed, by 
which you have highly offended God, so I suppose I 
need not tell you that the only way of obtaining 
pardon and the remission of your sins from God, is 
by a true and unfeigned repentance, and faith in 
Christ, by whose death and passion you can alone 
hope for salvation. 

"You, being a gentleman, and having had the 
advantage of a liberal education, I believe it will be 
needless for me to explain to you the nature of re- 
pentance and faith in Christ. They are so fully 



CLOSE OF BONNET'S CAREER. 1 37 

mentioned in the Scriptures that you can not but 
know them. But, considering the course of your 
life, I have reason to fear that the principles of reli- 
gion which had been instilled into you by your ed- 
ucation, have been corrupted, if not entirely defaced 
by the infidelity of this wicked age ; and that the 
time you allowed for study was rather applied to the 
polite literature than to a serious search after the 
law and will of God. 

" In the Scriptures is found the great mystery of 
fallen man's redemption. They would have taught 
you that sin is the debasing of human nature, and 
that religion and walking by the laws of God are 
altogether preferable to the ways of sin and Satan. 
I hope that the present afflictions, which God has 
laid upon you, have now convinced you of this. 

" And consider how he invites all sinners to 
come to Him, and He will give them rest ; for He 
has assured us that ' He came to seek and to save 
that which was lost ; ' and that ' whosoever cOmeth 
to Him, He will in nowise cast out.' So that now, 
even at the eleventh hour, if you will sincerely turn 
to Him, He will receive you. 

" But do not mistake the nature of repentance to 
be only bare sorrow for the evil and punishment 
which sin has brought upon you. Your sorrow must 
arise from the consideration of your having offended 



138 STEDE BONNET. 

a gracious and merciful God. But I need not give 
you any particular directions as to the nature of re- 
pentance. I speak to one whose offences have pro- 
ceeded, not so much from his not knowing, as from 
his slighting and neglecting. his duty. 

" I only heartily wish that what, in compassion to 
your soul, I have now said, may have that effect 
upon you that you may become a true penitent. 
Having now discharged my duty to you as a Chris- 
tian, by giving you the best council I can with re- 
spect to the salvation of your soul, I must now do 
my office as a judge. The sentence which this court 
awards to you is : 

" That you, Stede Bonnet, shall go from hence to 
the place whence you came, and from thence to the 
place of execution ; where you shall be hanged by 
the neck until you are dead. And may God have 
mercy upon you." 

On Saturday, November 8th, 171 8, twenty-two of 
the pirates were hung upon the same gallows, at 
White Point, near the provincial city of Charleston. 
A few days after, Stede Bonnet, the gentleman of 
wealth, position, and culture, swung from the same 
gallows. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

The Portuguese Barthelemy. 

Commencement of his Career. — Bold Capture. — Brutality of the Pi- 
rates. — Reverses and Captivity. — Barthelemy doomed to Die. — 
His Escape. — Sufferings in the Forest. — Reaches Gulf Triste. — 
Hardening Effect of his Misfortunes. — His new Piratic Enter- 
prize. — Wonderful Success. — The Tornado. — Impoverishment 
and Ruin. 

One of the most bold and renowned of the buc- 
caneers was a Portuguese, by the name of Bar- 
thelemy. He was a man of some property, and fol- 
lowed the great tide of emigration to the West In- 
dies. At Kingston, Jamaica, he heard of the great 
fortunes which were made by buccaneers preying 
upon Spanish commerce. Engaging in several ex- 
peditions, he became quite rich. Finally he fitted 
out a small vessel, at his own expense, which he 
armed with four three-pounders, and a crew of thirty 
desperate men, armed with muskets, pistols, and 
sabres. This sloop was fitted out in a British port, 
to rob the ships of Spain, just as openly as if it 
were bound upon a fishing excursion. 

He commenced his cruise upon the southern 



140 THE PORTUGUESE BARTHELEMY. 

coast of Cuba. But a few days passed ere he caught 
sight of a large ship, richly laden and well armed, 
bound from the Spanish colonies in Venezuela to 
Havana. It had, as he afterward found, a crew of 
seventy men, with about the same number of pas- 
sengers and marines, and carried twenty guns. 

When Barthelemy's crew saw the size of the ship 
and the indications of her strong armament, the}/- 
hesitated to venture upon an attack. All were as- 
sembled around the mast to discuss the question. 
The general voice was discouraging. Barthelemy's 
speech was short and decisive. He was a man of 
few words and prompt action. 

" We came out," said he, " for prizes. Here is a 
splendid one. The opportunity must not be lost. 
Nothing great can be accomplished without risk." 

They gave chase. The ship quietly awaited 
their approach ; " as much astonished at the attack," 
writes Thornbury, " as a swallow would be if it were 
pursued by a gnat." The pirates made a desperate 
endeavor to board the ship. We are not informed 
of the particulars of the fight. The result only is 
known. After several repulses, and a long and 
bloody conflict, the pirates raised shouts of victory 
on the blood-stained deck of their prize. Ten of 
them were killed ; four wounded. All on board the 
ship but forty were killed. Many of these were 



HIS CAPTIVITY. 141 

severely maimed with bullet wounds and sword- 
cuts. 

The pirates, having searched the pockets of the 
dead for their loose doubloons, threw the bodies 
overboard. Those helplessly wounded suffered the 
same fate. The survivors, after being stripped of 
everything valuable, were placed in a boat and cut 
adrift, to fare as they might. The prize proved to 
be worth between eighty and a hundred thousand 
dollars. Barthelemy found himself in command of 
a truly splendid ship, well armed, and well stored 
with ammunition and provisions. He had also his 
little sloop as a tender. Though he had a crew of 
but twenty men, he could at any time double or 
treble his number in the thronged ports of Kingston 
or Tortuga. As he was sailing around the western 
end of the Island of Cuba, he came unexpectedly 
upon three large ships bound to Havana. The pi- 
rate ship was heavily laden and ploughed the waves 
slowly. The Spanish ships gave chase ; captured 
the buccaneers ; stripped them ; drove them with 
sabre-strokes under the hatches, and left them there 
to^ meditate upon the reverses of fortune and their 
own approaching ignominious death by hanging. 

The notoriety of Barthelemy, as one of the most 
terrible of human monsters, had spread far and wide. 
He concealed his name, and his captors were not 



142 THE PORTUGUESE BARTHELEMY. 

aware what a prize they had taken. The ship, con- 
taining the crew of pirates, was separated from the 
rest by a storm. She took refuge at Campeachy, on 
the western coast of the immense peninsula of Yu- 
catan. Crowds flocked on board to see the pirates 
in irons. Among them came one who, in former 
years, had well known Barthelemy. Lifting up his 
hands in astonishment he proclaimed in presence 
of the multitude : 

" This is Barthelemy the Portuguese. He is the 
most wicked rascal in the world. He v has done more 
harm to Spanish commerce than all the other pi- 
rates put together." 

The glad news spread through the town. There 
were joyful assemblages in the streets. All hearts 
were glowing with the desire, to take vengeance on 
the man who had put so many Spaniards to death. 
The people appealed to the governor to demand the 
pirate in the name of the king. He was arrested, 
more heavily ironed, and placed on board another 
vessel. A gibbet was erected upon which to hang 
him. The governor did not deem any trial neces- 
sary. From his cabin window Barthelemy could see 
the workmen building the gallows, upon which he 
was to be hung in chains, there to swing, in sun- 
shine and storm, till the action of the elements 
should dissolve both skin and bones. 



HIS ESCAPE. 143 

The wretch had a strange power of winning 
friends. The captain by whom he was captured 
wished to save him. Some one secretly conveyed 
to him a file. He soon freed himself from his irons. 
There were in his cabin two large earthern jars, 
empty and very buoyant. Carefully he closed the 
orifices ; bound them loosely together by a strong 
cord ; lowered them cautiously into the water, 
when midnight darkness covered the sea. A sen- 
try was placed at the door of the cabin. He had 
fallen asleep. Fearful that he might awake and 
give the alarm, the pirate stealthily approached him 
with a huge knife in his hand. By a well-directed 
blow the glittering blade pierced his heart, and the 
sentinel died without a struggle or a groan. 

The pirate noiselessly dropped himself down 
into the water. Grasping, with one hand, the strong 
cord attached to the two jars, with the other he 
slowly paddled himself to the shore. The cur- 
rent floated him to the very spot where the gibbet 
was erected. There it stood, in its awful gloom, 
with the hangman's chain dangling from its timbers. 
Even the iron-hearted Barthelemy shuddered, as at 
midnight's dismal hour, he contemplated the doom 
from which he was endeavoring to escape. 

He 4ook to the woods. But few of our readers 
can imagine the entanglements of the tropical forest 



144 THE PORTUGUESE BARTHELEMY. 

through which he struggled. Conscious that blood- 
hounds might be put upon his track, he sought a 
running stream, and waded along for a great dis- 
tance in the darkness. He was torn cruelly by over- 
hanging thorns, and bruised as he stumbled over 
rocks and stones. As the morning dawned he hid 
himself in a pile of brush, half covered with water. 

The windings of the stream were such that he 
had advanced but a short distance from the town. 
The tidings of his escape roused the whole popula- 
tion. It was known that he could not have forced 
his way far through the entanglement of briers 
and thorns and interlacing vines, in the few hours 
between midnight and the dawn. The whole forest 
seemed alive with his pursuers. A thousand slaves 
were shouting in their barbarian eagerness. Packs 
of blood-hounds were rushing to and fro, smelling at 
every track, and making the forest resound with 
their deep-mouthed bayings. The alarm-bells of the 
city were rolling forth their loud and solemn peals. 
Bands of Spanish cavaliers, with indignation in their 
hearts and oaths upon their lips, passed within sight 
of the hiding wretch ; and he heard their vows of 
vengeance. Thus passed the wretched day. " The 
way of the transgressor is indeed hard." 

Barthelemy, bleeding, exhausted, starving, and 
tormented with the bite of insects, endured these 



HIS ESCAPE. 145 

long hours of mental and bodily torture, until night 
again darkened the scene. With the darkness he 
resumed his terrified flight, he scarcely knew where. 
His general plan was to reach some distant seaport 
in disguise, where he hoped to effect his escape as a 
sailor. Every hour he trembled in danger of being 
caught ; and his only food was roots and berries, and 
the raw shell-fish he scraped from the rocks. 

He forded streams where he was in imminent 
danger of being snapped up by the jaws of croco- 
diles. He waded through swamps, and narrowly 
escaped being suffocated in the mire. His shoes 
were torn from his feet, his clothes from his limbs. 
For fourteen days and nights he endured these tor- 
tures. His only guide was the roar of the ocean. 
He was travelling in a southwesterly direction. It 
was his constant endeavor to keep the ocean within 
hearing distance on his right. 

There is manifestly no tendency in misery to 
make men better. The pirate, with all his woes, 
grew more obdurate and more cruel. " In these 
fourteen days," writes one of his biographers, " he 
must have literally tasted death and anticipated the 
horrors of hell." But this almost demoniac wretch- 
edness led him to no prayers of penitence, and to no 
promises of amendment. They served only to whet 
his appetite for revenge. 
7 



146 THE PORTUGUESE BARTHELEMY. 

At length he reached a large ocean bay, about 
one hundred and twenty miles from Campeachy, ap- 
propriately called Gulf Triste. Here, to his immense 
relief, he found a large ship of buccaneers riding at 
anchor. He signalled the ship, and a boat was sent 
to take him on board. With feigned glee the wretch 
told the story of his adventures. Not a word of 
penitence was uttered. There was not the slightest 
recognition that the punishment he had received 
was merited. On the contrary, he said to the 
pirates : 

" I know of a ship at Campeachy, which is richly 
laden, and but feebly armed. It can be captured 
with all ease. Furnish me with a boat and thirty 
good men, and in a few days I will bring the ship 
and all its cargo to you." 

His request was granted. The boat was equip- 
ped, and he sailed along the coast, assuming that he 
was a smuggler, with contraband goods. In eight 
days he reached Campeachy. As the boat entered 
the harbor, the piratic character of the craft was so 
Concealed that no suspicions were excited. At mid- 
night the pirates cautiously approached the doomed 
vessel. As the crew supposed themselves safe in 
the harbor, there was but one sentry pacing the 
deck. He hailed the boat. Barthelemy, who spoke 
Spanish perfectly, stood upon the bows, and replied: 



WONDERFUL SUCCESS. 147 

" We are a part of the crew. We have a boat- 
load of goods from the land for the vessel, upon 
which no duty has been paid." 

At that moment the bows of the boat touched 
the ship. Barthelemy and his crew leaped on 
board, drawn cutlass in hand. One plunge, of a sabre 
pierced the heart of the sentinel, and he fell dead. 
A few others who chanced to be on deck were 
driven below, and the hatches were closed upon 
them. Scarcely five minutes elapsed ere the thirty 
pirates, all veteran sailors, were in perfect command 
of the ship, and all the officers and crew were firm- 
ly barricaded, as prisoners, beneath the deck. No 
noise had been made. No alarm was given to other 
ships in the harbor. They raised the anchors, 
spread the sails, and put out to sea. 

Thus suddenly the wheel of fortune turned. 
The trembling fugitive, in danger of the gallows, in 
rags and starvation, wandering through the wilder- 
ness, but a few days before, now found himself 
treading the deck of one of the finest of Spanish 
ships, well provisioned, well armed, and with a rich 
cargo stored in her hold. He was the captain and 
mostly the owner of the majestic craft. His dicta- 
torial power was recognized by thirty desperate men, 
ready implicitly to obey his will. The commerce 



148 THE- PORTUGUESE BARTHELEMY. 

of all seas was apparently within the reach of his 
piratical grasp. 

The imprisoned crew were disposed of as these 
pirates usually got rid of those who were a trouble 
to them. They were either crowded into a boat 
and cut adrift, or landed upon the nearest shore, or 
thrown into the sea. Familiarity with misery and 
death rendered the pirates as insensible to human 
suffering as the fisherman becomes to the struggles 
of the fish in the bottom of his boat. 

Barthelemy, instead of returning with his prize 
to his comrades in Gulf Triste, spread his sails for 
Jamaica. He was greatly elated, and boasted loudly 
of the still greater enterprises which he was about to 
undertake. With his suddenly found wealth he 
would create a fleet ; he would have crews of five 
hundred men at his command ; his blood-red flag 
should sweep all seas ; he would collect an army 
and ravage provinces ; he would seize some large 
island, of which he would be the monarch, with his 
fleets and his armies. Thus the Portuguese pirate 
dreamed. He did not take God into the account. 
God had decided otherwise. 

It was a beautiful morning, as Barthelemy paced 
the deck, lost in these ambitious imaginings. The 
sky was cloudless. A fresh breeze swelled the sails, 
and delightfully tempered the heat of a tropical sun 



IMPOVERISHMENT AND RUIN. I49 

A few leagues south of the Island of Cuba is the 
majestic Isle of Pines. Large as it is, its promi- 
nence is lost in the overpowering grandeur of its sis- 
ter island. The ship was running along its southern 
coast. 

A small cloud was seen in the southwestern hori- 
zon. Rapidly it increased in size and blackness. It 
was a tropical tornado. Already its roar could be 
heard as it ploughed and lashed the seas. The terrible 
gale struck the ship and whirled it along as though 
it had been a bubble. God was there, in his sore 
displeasure. What could man do ? Nothing. The 
pirates threw themselves upon their knees, and 
called upon the Virgin and all the saints to come 
and help them. But neither Virgin nor saint came. 

The ship struck the rocks — was dashed to pieces ; 
the silver, the gold, the cargo, everything disap- 
peared before those terrific blasts. Many were 
drowned. Barthelemy and a few of the crew were 
swept ashore by the mountain billows. Their 
clothes were torn from their backs. Their bodies 
were sorely bruised, and some of their bones broken, 
by being dashed against the rocks. Exhausted, 
panting, maimed, and half dead, Barthelemy found 
himself utterly beggared upon a lonely isle. This 
was the work of one short half-hour. This was the 
disposal God made of the pirates' stolen spoil. 



150 THE PORTUGUESE BARTHELEMY. 

A wretched, starving straggler, Barthelemy 
found his way to Jamaica. Here he enlisted as a 
common sailor on board a pirate ship, and we hear 
of him no more. Without doubt, he came to a mis- 
erable end ; and his body was probably thrown into 
the sea as food for sharks. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Francis Lolonois. 

Early Dife of Lolonois. — His Desperate Character. — Joins the Buc- 
caneers. — His Fiend-like Cruelty. — The Desperadoes Rally 
around Him. — Equips a Fleet. — Captures Rich Prizes. — Plans 
the Sack of Maracaibo. — The Adventurous Voyage. — Description 
of Venezuela. — Atrocities at Maracaibo and Gibraltar. — Doom of 
the Victors. 

One of the most demoniac of those pirates who 
were ravaging sea and land, calling themselves buc- 
caneers, and assuming that they were conducting 
a sort of legitimate warfare on" their own private 
account, was a bold wretch by the name of Francis 
Lolonois. He was a Frenchman. When quite a 
young man, he, with other adventurers, went to the 
West Indies, paying for his passage, in accordance 
with a custom of the times, by being sold as a ser- 
vant for a certain term. 

Having obtained his freedom, he went to the 
Island of St. Domingo. Here he lived a vagabond 
life, sometimes hunting, and again engaged as a 
common sailor in the commerce of the islands. He 
soon acquired the reputation of being a reckless, 



152 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

desperate fellow, and attracted the attention of the 
piratic governor of the piratic rendezvous, at the 
Island of Tortugas. He was intrusted with the 
command of a small vessel, to prey upon Spanish 
commerce. His success was extraordinary. He be- 
came rich. So terrible were his cruelties, that his 
fame extended through both of the Indies. Death 
was the doom of his captives ; often death by tor- 
ture. 

He had all his wealth, gold, jewels, and goods in 
a great ship, armed with heavy guns. It was wreck- 
ed on the coast of Campeachy. The crew barely 
escaped with their lives. The angry waves dashed 
to pieces and swallowed up the ill-gotten gains of 
the pirate. The enraged Spaniards, overjoyed at 
the wreck, pursued those who had escaped to the 
dry land, and shot most of them down, mercilessly. 
Lolonois, disguised as a common sailor, was severely 
wounded. He smeared himself with blood, and 
feigned death. Being left - on the field unburied, 
when the Spaniards left, he crept into the woods. 
It was universally believed that he was dead. The 
removal of such a wretch from the world was a mat- 
ter of almost national rejoicing. Bonfires blazed. 
Cannon were fired. The undevout drank, and swore 
in their carousal. The devout repaired to the 



SACK OF MARACAIBO. 1 53 

churches, and thanked God that the world was de- 
livered from so cruel a pirate. 

Lolonois, slowly recovering from his wounds, 
disguised in a Spanish habit, entered Campeachy. 
He made friends with a few slaves, stole a small 
boat, and, as his piratic biographer has it, " came to 
Tortugas, the common place of refuge of all sorts of 
wickedness, and the seminary, as it'were, of all man- 
ner of pirates and thieves." 

His reputation as a successful pirate was such, 
that he speedily obtained command of another ves- 
sel, manned by a crew of twenty-one desperadoes. 
On the south side of the Island of Cuba, there was 
a flourishing little village called Cayos. The inhab- 
itants carried on an active trade in tobacco, sugar, 
and hides. Their harbor had not sufficient depth 
of water for large vessels. The traffic was in boats. 
Lolonois decided to sack the place. 

It was not far across the island to Havana. 
Some fishermen informed the inhabitants of the 
approach of the pirate. In terror they sent to 
Havana for aid. The governor instantly dispatched 
a war-ship, of ten guns and seventy-five men, for 
their relief. The governor, astonished that Lolo- 
nois had again come to life, issued written orders, as 
follows : 

" You are not to return until you have utterly 
7* 



154 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

destroyed all those pirates. Every one is to be im- 
mediately hung, excepting Lolonois, their captain. 
If possible, you are to bring him alive to Havana." 

The ship arrived at Cayos before the pirates had 
made their attack. They cast anchor just outside 
the harbor. The pirates, through their confederates, 
had been informed of their approach. They captured 
two fishing-boats. In the darkness of the ensuing 
night, they ran these boats, one on each side of the 
ship, and with sword and pistol leaped on board. 
The attack was so sudden, so entirely unprovided 
for, that the few of the crew who were on deck were 
speedily struck down or driven below. 

Lolonois was in command of the ship, with all 
his prisoners beneath the hatches. One by one they 
were brought up, and their heads cut off. Not one 
was spared. The dismembered bodies were cast 
into the sea. The bloody decks were washed. The 
pirate, proud of his achievement, and admired by 
his men, strode to and fro, the proprietor of a strong, 
well-armed ship, amply provided with everything he 
could need to aid him in his career of rapine and 
blood. He wrote a letter to the governor, and sent 
it to him by one of his captive fishermen. It was as 
follows : 

" I shall never, hereafter, give quarter to any 
Spaniard. I have great hopes that I shall yet have 



SACK OF MARACAIBO. 1 55 

the pleasure of exercising upon your own person, the 
punishment I have now inflicted upon those you 
have sent against me. It is thus that I requite the 
kindness, which you designed for me and my com- 
panions." 

The governor was greatly troubled and per- 
plexed by these tidings. In his anger he took a 
solemn oath that he would never hereafter grant 
quarter to any buccaneer who should fall into his 
hands. But the citizens of Havana implored him 
not to persist in the execution of this oath. They 
sent a delegation to him to say : 

" If this threat is followed out, the pirates will 
certainlydo the same. They have a hundred times 
more opportunity of revenge than the governor can 
have. We must get our living by fishery. Here- 
after, if this threat is executed, we shall always be at 
the peril of our lives." 

Lolonois cruised for some time among the 
islands, without success. He then directed his 
course south toward Maracaibo, an important port 
in the extreme north of the South American conti- 
nent. After a run of six or eight hundred miles, he 
reached the entrance of the vast bay which leads up 
to the city. Here he captured an outward-bound 
ship, richly laden with plate and silver from the 
mines. 



156 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

What he did with the crew we know not. They 
vanished. They were probably all thrown into the 
sea. With ship and cargo he returned to Tortugas, 
where he was received with public rejoicing. Though 
now rich enough to live at his ease, his ambition was 
roused to attain still greater renown. Publicly he 
proclaimed to all the pirates on the island, that he 
was about to fit out a fleet sufficient to carry five 
hundred men. With these he would sail to the 
Spanish dominions in South America, and sack all 
the cities, towns, and villages along the coast. He 
would then capture Maracaibo itself. 

All the desperadoes were eager to engage in the 
service of so brave and successful a leader. His fleet 
was soon equipped, and his gang engaged. There 
was a celebrated buccaneer at Tortugas, by the 
name of Michael Basco. He had become very rich, 
and filled an important governmental office. The 
proclamation of Lolonois fired anew his piratic zeal. 
He had in former years ravaged all those regions by 
sea and by land. He proposed to Lolonois to be- 
come a partner in his enterprise, if he couldbe placed 
in command over the land forces. The articles of 
agreement were soon signed. Eight vessels sailed. 
The crews amounted to six hundred and seventy- 
five men. First they directed their course to St. 
Domingo, and cast anchor in a little harbor called 



SACK OF MARACAIBO. 1 57 

Bayala. Here they laid in stores for their voyage, 
and added to their crews quite a number of vaga- 
bond Frenchmen. 

On the last day of July they again spread their 
sails. Whether they implored the Divine blessing 
upon their enterprise we know not. It is not impro- 
bable. One of these pirates ran his sword through 
one of the crew for behaving irreverently in church. 

" How can we^expect," he said indignantly, "-the 
blessing of the Virgin, if we behave in an unseemly 
way in her presence ? " 

Lolonois was admiral of the fleet. He occupied 
the largest ship, which mounted ten guns. They 
ran along the northern shore of St. Domingo, and 
just as they were doubling its most eastern cape, 
they came in sight of a large, heavily laden Spanish 
merchantman, bound from Spain to her colonies. 
But a few leagues beyond them, on the southeast 
side of St. Domingo, was the Island of Savona. Lo- 
lonois ordered the fleet to make a harbor there, 
and wait for him. He then sailed to capture the 
Spanish galleon. 

Unexpected resistance was encountered. The 
Spaniards knew that they had no mercy to expect 
from Lolonois. They fought with desperation, pre- 
ferring to die in the fierce battle, rather than be 
massacred by the pirates. The conflict lasted three 



158 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

hours. The ship was captured, and the survivors 
put to the sword. 

Lolonois was delighted on finding the prize much 
richer than he had anticipated. The ship was one 
of the strongest and best built of Spanish vessels, 
and mounted sixteen guns. There were fifty men 
on board, some doubtless passengers. But they 
were no match for the reckless^irates, who were 
veterans in such warfare. The ship, in addition to 
a very rich cargo, had forty thousand dollars in coin, 
and ten thousand more in jewels. 

Lolonois sent the ship back to Tortugas to be 
unloaded, and then immediately to rejoin him at 
Savona, to accompany the expedition. In the mean 
time another large ship was captured, which was 
bound to Hispaniola with military supplies and a 
sum of money to pay the garrison. The ship 
mounted eight guns. Being entirely surrounded 
by the hostile fleet, the captain surrendered without 
resistance. 

The passengers and crew were disposed of after 
the pirates' usual fashion. This important capture 
contained seven thousand pounds of powder, a large 
number of muskets and other small arms, and twelve 
thousand dollars in specie. The governor of Tor- 
tugas, a Frenchman, ordered the cargo to be re- 
moved as quickly as possible from the ship, and 



SACK OF MARACAIBO. 1 59 

placing on board fresh provisions and a reinforce- 
ment of pirates, to make good the loss of those who 
had fallen in battle or by sickness, sent it back to 
Savona. 

Lolonois made this his flagship, as the largest 
and best of the fleet. The city of Maracaibo was 
situated on an island, in the lake of the same name, 
and at the head of the Bay of Venezuela. The island 
was about sixty riffles long by thirty-six broad. The 
passage to the city was by a narrow channel which 
was guarded by a fort. The city contained a mixed 
population of about four thousand, and carried on a 
thriving trade in hides and tobacco. The dwellings 
were delightfully situated, on an eminence running 
along the western shore of the lake, and command- 
ing a charming view of land and water scenery. 
There was a large stone church in the place, four 
capacious monasteries, and a hospital. A deputy 
governor, subject to the governor at Caraccas, admin- 
istered alike both civil and military affairs. 

The inhabitants of the province were rich in 
cattle. Immense herds grazed over the luxuriant 
pastures, extending nearly one hundred miles around. 
The cattle were kept mainly for their hides, which 
ever commanded a ready market. Oranges, lemons, 
bananas, and other tropical fruits were also very 
abundant. The harbor was spacious and secure, 



■l6o FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

with the very best of timber at hand. There were 
many fierce Indians in the morasses and thickets 
around. They were comparatively powerless, though 
occasionally committing wolfish depredations. 

About one hundred and twenty miles beyond 
Maracaibo, farther up the lake, there was another 
quite important colonial Spanish town, called Gibral- 
tar. It had a population of about fifteen hundred. 
These were nearly all engaged in trade, purchasing 
the products of the country and sending them to 
other markets. On the plantations around, large 
quantities of sugar were made. Also immense 
stores of cacao, from which our word cocoa is de- 
rived, were gathered. This was the flat oblong seed 
of the chocolate-tree, which was one of the most 
important articles of commerce. They also raised a 
very superior kind of tobacco, which was in great 
demand in Europe, called priests' tobacco. 

Still farther south, over a high ridge of moun- 
tains, there was another settlement called Merida. 
The summits of these mountains reached the region 
of intense cold, and were covered with perpetual 
snow. There were a few narrow passes through this 
craggy barrier, which could be traversed only by the 
sure-footed mule. 

As sogii as Lolonois entered the Gulf of Vene- 
zuela, he crept cautiously along its shores, and cast 



SACK OF MARACAIBO. l6l 

anchor behind a wooded promontory, where he was 
concealed from all observation. In the early dawn 
of the next morning he again unfurled his sails, and, 
with a fair wind, swept rapidly toward the Lake 
of Maracaibo. Secretly all the men were landed. 
They marched to attack, on the land side, the fort, 
about four or five leagues from the city, which guard- 
ed the entrance to the harbor. The defences here 
consisted only of stout wicker baskets, about seven 
feet high, filled with earth and stones. Within the 
fort there were sixteen heavy guns. 

Notwithstanding all their precautions to attack 
the fort by surprise, eagle eyes had detected their 
approach, and had given the alarm. The command- 
ant sent out a party of men to place themselves in 
ambuscade, on the only route by which the pirates 
could approach the fort. They were to wait until 
the pirates had passed that point, then, at a given 
signal, when the governor attacked them in front, 
from behind his rampart, they were to fall fiercely 
upon the rear of the foe. 

Lolonois was a demon, with a demon's ability. 
He discovered the stratagem ; crept around the 
ambuscade ; attacked the detachment in its rear, 
and cut nearly every man to pieces. He then 
marched upon the fort. The Spaniards were not 
cowards. For three hours the battle raged, with 



1 62 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

equal desperation on either side. The reverberation 
of the artillery explosions alarmed the whole city. 
The tidings ran through the streets, exaggerated of 
course : 

" The pirates, two thousand strong, are marching 
upon us." 

Their atrocities were well known. The whole 
community fled, seizing such articles of value as they 
could — some in boats, some on land. Men, faint- 
ing women, and crying babes, they pressed along, in 
a tumultuous mass, to seek refuge in Gibraltar. 

The fort was taken. Nearly all its defenders lay 
silent in death. The ships, having nothing more to 
fear, spread their sails and entered the harbor. The 
pirates demolished the fort, burst all the cannon 
they could, and spiked the rest. Lolonois practised 
his accustomed caution. All the adjacent thickets 
were swept with grape-shot. Under the protection 
of his guns, the boats, crowded with armed men, ap- 
proached'the shore. One-half landed. The others 
remained in the boats with guns in their hands, sa- 
bres at their sides, and pistols in their belts, to act as 
reserves. 

To their assault there was no response. Not a 
human being was to be seen. The town was utterly 
abandoned. They found provisions in great abund- 
ance, with large quantities of wine and other intoxi- 



SACK OF MARACAIBO. 1 63 

eating liquors. These fiend-like men then commenced 
a scene of feasting, which continued for several days. 
Their hideous orgies cannot be described. Pro- 
bably they experienced something of what they 
called joy, in these revels. But they were only such 
joys as demons have. Milton describes Satan, 
exulting over some of his plots, as "grinning horri- 
bly a ghastly sraile." 

At length, satiated with their unrestrained ex- 
cesses, they turned their attention to the collec- 
tion of plunder. It will be remembered that it was 
a hundred and twenty miles to Gibraltar. There 
were aged men, feeble women, the sick, and newly 
born babes in the place. It was evident that many 
of these could not have escaped far, and that they 
must be concealed in the woods around. Neither 
eould it be doubted that much treasure, which could 
not be transported to a distance, had been buried. 

Gangs of armed men, amounting in all to over 
two hundred, were sent to explore the woods. They 
went out every morning, for several days, and re- 
turned at night. The first night they brought in 
twenty thousand dollars in coin, eight mule-loads of 
goods, and twenty prisoners, men, women, and chil- 
dren. Lolonois put several of these to the rack, to 
compel them to reveal where other people were 
concealed, and where other treasures were buried. 



164 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

The fiend tortured little children, before the eyes 
of their parents, to extort confession. 

Terrible was the condition of the Spaniards in 
the woods. They were suffering from every kind of 
exposure. They were devoured by insects. They 
were starving. They were watching over sick and 
dying friends. And they were every moment in 
danger of being captured, and exposed to the most 
horrible torments, to extort the confession of hidden 
treasures, when they had no treasure to hide. 

The next night another party of prisoners was 
brought in, with other plunder. Lolonois summon- 
led the captives before him. Drawing his sharp 
sabre, he, without apparently the slightest emotion, 
hewed one of them to pieces before the eyes of all 
the rest. He did this slowly and deliberately, so as 
to prolong life as much as possible. Then, turning 
to the rest, he said, with a pirate's oath : 

" If you do not reveal to me where you have con- 
cealed the rest of your goods, I will serve every 
one of you in the same manner." 

For fifteen days the pirates remained at Mara- 
caibo. They perpetrated cruelties upon their cap- 
tives so terrible, that we are compelled to spread a 
veil over them. They then prepared to move on 
to Gibraltar. 

The governor of this province, which was called 



CAPTURE OF GIBRALTAR. 1 65 

Venezuela, or Little Venice, from its many marshes, 
resided at Merida. He was a veteran soldier, who 
had gained renown in the wars in Flanders, He 
was, moreover, somewhat of a braggadocio. The 
panic-stricken inhabitants of Gibraltar, sent implor- 
ing appeals to him for aid. He returned the boast- 
ful reply : 

" Give yourselves no uneasiness. I will soon 
be with. you, at the head of four hundred experi- 
enced soldiers. The pirates shall be utterly extermi- 
nated." 

He reached Gibraltar with his little army. Ral- 
lying the inhabitants, he soon had at his com- 
mand a force of eight hundred well-armed men. 
He raised two batteries to command the ap- 
proaches to the town. Upon one he mounted 
twenty guns ; upon the other eight. He also barri- 
caded the main entrance to the town. To deceive 
the pirates, he opened a road which led circuitously 
away into impassable swamps. 

As Lolonbis approached the town he saw the 
royal banner of Spain floating over its defences, in- 
dicating that he could not take possession of the 
place without a battle. He called his officers around 
him, and thus addressed them : 

"The difficulties of our enterprise have become 
very great. The Spaniards have had much time to 



1 66 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

prepare for their defence. They have an ample 
supply of ammunition, and have assembled a large 
number of men. Still, let us be of good cour- 
age. We must either defend ourselves like valiant 
soldiers, or lose our lives with all the riches we have 
gained. I am your captain. Do as I do. We have 
fought with fewer men than we have now. We have 
conquered foes more numerous than can possibly 
oppose us here. The more they are, the greater 
our glory, and the greater our riches. But know ye 
this, that the first man who gives any indication of 
fear,' I will pistol with my own hand." 

They landed from their ships, a little after mid- 
night. In all, they numbered three hundred and 
eighty. Each man had a musket with thirty bullets, 
cartridges, a cutlass, and two or three loaded pistols 
in his belt. As they commenced their march, which 
they knew must lead to the death of some of them, 
they shook hands with each other in pledge of 
mutual support. 

" Come, my brothers," said Lolonois, " follow me, 
and be of good courage." 

Upon reaching the barricade, where they encoun- 
tered a heavy fire, they turned aside into the new 
road which had been opened to insnare them. This 
battle in the woods, amid swamps and thickets, and 
intertwining vines and torturing thorns, can not be 



CAPTURE OF GIBRALTAR. 1 67 

described. The combatants were sometimes up to 
their waists in mire. The entanglements of a trop- 
ical forest were such that they often could not see or 
approach each other. Much of the firing was at 
random. The air was heavy with moisture. The 
large guns of the batteries hurled balls and grape- 
shot, crashing through the branches. The sulphur- 
ous smoke settled down upon the morass in stifling 
folds. 

The pirates cut down branches of the trees and 
threw them into the marsh, and thus gradually strug- 
gled through, until they reached the firm ground 
beyond. Here the Spaniards were again ready to 
receive them, with opposing batteries. Many of the 
pirates had perished in the swamp. Their situation 
now seemed desperate. Lolonois was equal to the 
occasion. He feigned a panic. The pirates fled 
tumultuously, crying out, " Save himself who can." 
Their flight was toward the ships. 

The Spaniards, deceived by the feigned discom- 
fiture, rushed from behind their intrenchments in 
eager pursuit, shouting joyfully, " They fly ; they 
fly!" Lolonois and his men, having drawn them 
some distance from their batteries, turned upon 
them with the reckless ferocity of tigers. Their 
bloody work was soon accomplished. A few of the 
Spaniards escaped in terror to the woods. All the 



1 68 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

rest were cut down. Gibraltar was at the mercy of 
the pirates. 

Five hundred Spaniards lay dead upon the 
ground. Many of those who escaped to the woods 
were wounded, and of these not a few died, for they 
were destitute of all aid in dressing their wounds. 
Fearing that so many dead bodies might create con- 
tagion, the pirates piled them all in two large boats, 
and sunk them in the lake. Still many putrefying 
corpses were left scattered through the woods. 
The pirates admit that they lost eighty in the con- 
flict. The number was probably greater. Though 
most of the inhabitants escaped from the town, the 
victors held about one hundred and fifty prisoners, 
men, women, and children. They prized these cap- 
tives because, by torturing them, they hoped to find 
where money was concealed. 

The town was plundered effectually. Every nook 
and corner they searched. The miserable captives 
were shut up in the church. Gangs of men were 
sent out to ravage the plantations around. As pro- 
visions became scarce, the prisoners were left with- 
out any supply of bread or water. The hearts of 
the pirates were no more moved by their piteous 
moans than were the stone blocks with which the 
church was built. During the four weeks the pirates 



CAPTURE OF GIBRALTAR. 1 69 

held Gibraltar, nearly all these captives died of 
actual starvation. 

Their gangs ranged the woods for great distances, 
bringing in plunder and prisoners. Many women 
were brought in. Every conceivable measure was 
resorted to, to get money. The whole region was 
wantonly turned into a blackened, smouldering 
desert. Lolonois wished to pursue his mad career 
over the mountains to Merida. But a pestilential 
and contagious disease sprang up among his men. 
God's hand seemed to smite them. All were sick. 
Skeleton forms staggered through the streets. 
These men were not ignorant of the crimes they 
were committing. There were no loving hands to 
attend them in the languor of sickness, in the ago- 
nies of death. In misery, many of these wretches 
were burned with fever. Moaning and blaspheming 
they died, and their guilty souls passed to the tribu- 
nal of that God who cannot look upon sin but with 
abhorrence. They had seized their ill-gotten gold, 
and it had indeed turned to ashes in their grasp. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Plunder ; The Carousal ; and the New Enterprise. 

Gibraltar in Ashes. — The Return to Maracaibo. — Division of the 
Plunder. — Peculiar Scene. — Reception of the Pirates at Tortuga. 
— Fiend-like Carousal. — The Pirates Reduced to Beggary. — Lo- 
lonois's New Enterprise. — The " Furious Calm." — Days of Disas- 
ter. — Ravaging the Coast.— Capture of San Pedro. 

DISEASE was now cutting down the pirates faster 
than the bullets or sabres of the Spaniards had done. 
The victors, with an abundance of gold and booty, 
were starving. The provisions in the place were all 
consumed, and no fresh supplies had been brought in. 
The woe-stricken wretches were quarrelling among 
themselves about the division of the spoil. 

Lolonois sent several parties of men into the re- 
gion around, to search out fugitives from Gibraltar, 
and say to them that if, within two days, they 
would send in to him fifty-eight thousand dollars, 
he would not burn the city ; otherwise he would lay 
every building in ashes. He set at liberty several 
of his prisoners also, to convey to their friends the 
same information. Disappointed in the money he 



PLUNDER AND CAROUSAL. 171 

had found, he still believed that large sums had been 
secreted by the fugitives. 

The two days passed, and the money did not 
come. Lolonois set fire to the four corners of the 
town, and in six hours reduced it to ashes. By beat 
of drum he assembled his sick and starving men, and 
embarked, with all the riches which were movable. 
He took several captives with him, male and female. 
Sailing down the bay, they soon reached Maracaibo. 
Quite a number of the inhabitants, who had re- 
turned tremblingly to their desolated homes, he 
captured. Beggared as the poor creatures already 
were, the merciless pirate said to them : 

" If you will supply me with five hundred cows, 
and bring me thirty thousand dollars in coin, I will 
spare your city. If you do not yield to this demand, 
I will treat your city as I have served Gibraltar. 
Not one building shall be left standing." 

The cows were driven in. The money was paid. 
The people, still trembling, and not daring to mani- 
fest their joy, saw these Goths and Vandals of mod- 
ern times, spread their sails, and slowly disappear in 
the distant horizon. But who can imagine the con- 
dition in which the town was left ? The people 
were utterly despoiled. The homes were desolated. 
Widows and orphans wept and wailed, with life-long 
penury before them. Not a few of the people, with 



1/2 FRANCIS LOLONAIS. 

ruined constitutions, tottered through the streets, 
slowly recovering from the crushings and the lacera- 
tions of the rack. When we read of such crimes 
perpetrated by man upon his brother, one almost 
shrinks from owning himself a man. And the weary 
heart finds little comfort in the thought that the 
Spaniards deserved it all. These woes came upon 
them as a righteous retribution. With equal cruelty 
they had treated the native Cubans, the Mexicans, 
and the Peruvians. 

The fleet sailed for Gonaves on the Island of 
Hispaniola. There the spoil was to be divided. 
Each one took a solemn oath, on the Bible, that he 
had concealed nothing, but that he had thrown 
everything into the public stock. 

The gathering of the pirates for this distribution 
on the shores of a lovely bay of the Island of St. Do- 
mingo, must have presented a very singular specta- 
cle. In the centre of a small verdant lawn, spread 
upon the grass, were bales of richest silk ; cloths of 
great variety of texture ; baskets of gold and silver 
coin, pistols, sabres, and muskets of the best con- 
struction, and costly jewels, and golden cups, vases, 
and ornaments, of which the churches had been 
despoiled. Around stood wild groups of heavily 
armed, half-naked pirates, in ferocity of aspect re- 
sembling fiends rather than men. Some counte- 



PLUNDER AND CAROUSAL. 1 73 

nances were disfigured with sabre gashes ; while 
some hobbled upon crutches. Native Indians had 
gathered around, their long, black hair streaming in 
the wind, and their almost naked bodies shining 
like coin fresh from the mint. Several Spanish cap- 
tives were there, men and women, looking sadly on 
at the distribution of the wealth of which their 
own homes had been plundered. There were also 
a large number of negro slaves present, with their 
black limbs and woolly, hatless heads, whom the pi- 
rates had brought with them to perform their heavy 
or menial tasks. 

After an exact calculation of the whole spoil in 
coin, jewels, and goods, the sum total was esti- 
mated at only about five hundred thousand dol- 
lars. The property was really worth much more. 
But a very low estimate was placed upon. most of the 
goods. Silver in bullion was valued at eight dollars 
a pound. The pirates were so ignorant of the real 
value of jewels, that they were prized at nothing like 
their real worth. Many of the stores and fabrics 
were also greatly undervalued. 

■Still, even at this low estimate, the average was 
over a thousand dollars for each pirate. Having 
finished this important business, they set sail for 
Tortuga, where most of them were, in a few days, 
to squander all the fruits of their robberies and mur- 



1 74 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

ders, in the most riotous dissipation. After a four- 
weeks' voyage they reached the great rendezvous of 
the buccaneers. The island was crowded with gam- 
blers and abandoned women, and every conceivable 
haunt of dissipation. 

For three weeks Tortuga presented a spectacle 
of frenzied and maddened carousal, which could 
not have been surpassed. Men, insane with drink, 
rushed through the streets, slashing with their sa- 
bres in all directions. Casks of rum and wine were 
placed in the streets, standing on end, with the heads 
knocked out, and every passer-by was compelled to 
drink. The women, more loathsome in their wick- 
edness than the men, reeled through the thorough- 
fares, in the richest silks and satins, and bedecked 
with glittering jewelry of which a duchess might be 
proud. There were oaths and brawls and bloody 
duels. In the delirium of these demoniac orgies 
gold watches were fried for a costly breakfast, and 
were served up with boiled pearls and jewels. 

Two French vessels chanced just then to enter 
the port, laden with wine and brandy. This was 
throwing fresh fuel upon the fiery conflagration of 
violence, sin, and shame then raging in this miniature 
city of all the fiends. In the course of three weeks 
nearly all of these thieves had squandered every- 
thing. The riches they had gained by murder and 



HIS NEW ENTERPRISE. 1 75 

the endurance and the infliction of untold miseries, 
had all passed into the hands of the gamblers, the 
liquor dealers, and the abandoned women. John 
Esquemeling, who witnessed these scenes, of which 
he wrote an account, says that the governor of the 
island bought of these, buccaneers a shipload of 
cocoa, for not one-twentieth part its real value. He 
sent it to Europe, and realized over five hundred 
thousand dollars from the profits. Lolonois, though 
fiercely brave, and with unusual native strength of 
mind, was a low, degraded, brutal man. He in- 
dulged in these bacchanal orgies with the meanest 
of his crew. No one was guilty of greater ex- 
cesses. No one sank to greater depths in the mire of 
loathsome wickedness. Not one short month had 
passed ere he was reeling through the streets a 
filthy and ragged beggar. He was also deeply in- 
volved in debt. 

He could conceive of but one mode of extrica- 
tion. That was to set out upon another piratic ex- 
pedition. The ravages of the pirates had been so 
great that the commerce of those seas was almost 
annihilated. .Merchant ships abandoned the ocean, 
unless attended by a very strong convoy. This it 
was which led the buccaneers to go in fleets, so as to 
land in sufficient strength to desolate the coasts and 
to sack towns and cities. 



176 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

Lolonois's success had given him high reputation 
as a pirate. There were many on the island ready 
to furnish him with the means for another adventure. 
There were hundreds of penniless, starving wretches 
staggering through the streets, eager to enlist under 
his banner for any service whatever. Inscrutable is 
the mystery of God's government. He has allowed 
miniature hells to exist on earth, and to be crowded 
with demons in human form. No philosophy, no 
theology can explain this. The heart, in its anguish, 
often cries out, " O Lord, how long ! how long ! " 
Faith tremblingly and sadly exclaims, " What we 
know not now we shall know hereafter." 

This demoniac man had sense enough to aban- 
don his cups, until his brain was sufficiently clear to 
organize, even to its details, the plan for a new ex- 
pedition. The enterprise was communicated to a 
few men of capital and unscrupulous shrewdness. 
Money was promptly raised. Six vessels were pur- 
chased. There were generally vessels enough in the 
harbor, from the prizes that were brought in, and 
from the large number of piratic ships. 

Lolonois placarded a proclamation upon the 
walls, calling for volunteers. More than seven hun- 
dred eager applicants thronged his doors. Three 
hundred of these he took, with himself, on board his 
largest ship. The rest were placed in five other 



HIS NEW ENTERPRISE. 1 77 

ships. None but the leading officers were informed 
of the destination of the fleet. 

They first sailed to a port called Bayaha, on the 
Island of San Domingo, then, as we have mentioned, 
called Hispaniola, or Little Spain. Here they filled 
their water-casks and supplied themselves with pro- 
visions. Thence they sailed to Matamana, a soli- 
tary but commodious harbor on the south side of 
Cuba. This region was famous for. its rich turtles. 
Native Cuban fishermen, in large boats, pursued 
these animals, alike valuable for their flesh and their 
shells. The pirates were fond of turtle soup. Lo- 
lonois needed a large number of boats, that he 
might simultaneously land the crews, from his ships, 
upon any doomed city. 

These poor men were mercilessly robbed of their 

boats, into many of which forty sailors could be 

crowded. The poor fishermen, having no other 

means of subsistence, were overwhelmed with grief 

and dismay. Lolonois was as heedless of their 

sorrows as he was of the manifest trouble of the 

tortoise when deprived of its young. Again they 

spread their sails, and had advanced about three 

hundred miles along the southern coast of Cuba, 

when they were overtaken by what the Spaniards 

call a " furious calm." 

For four weeks there was not a breath of air. 
8* 



178 - FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

Day after day the tropical sun rose, pouring down 
upon their blistered decks his scorching rays. The 
cabins became as furnaces. There was relief no- 
where. The pirates swore, prayed, called upon the 
Virgin and the saints. All was in vain. Twenty 
eight days of this terrible imprisonment passed 
slowly away. In the mean time a strong, but imper- 
ceptible and resistless current swept them along into 
the Gulf of Honduras, which deeply penetrates the 
eastern coast of Central America. Upon leaving 
Cuba, the crews had been informed of the enterprise 
before them. They were to coast along the province 
of Nicaragua and plunder all its settlements, great 
and small. 

This important Spanish province extended en- 
tirely across the Isthmus of Panama, then called 
Darien, from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. 
It was bounded on the north by Honduras, and on 
the south by Costa Rica. By the current,"the pirates 
had been swept nearly five hundred miles west of 
the point which they wished to make. To return, 
they must coast, for that distance, along the bleak, 
almost uninhabited northern shore of Honduras. 

The Gulf stream, pouring into the Bay of Hon- 
duras, pressed strongly against them. The calm was 
followed by fresh winds. But these winds were 



HIS NEW ENTERPRISE. 1 79 

strong and contrary. It was impossible to beat 
against both wind and current. 

Another dreary month thus passed away, as 
they struggled against adversity. Their provisions 
were consumed. Their water -casks were empty. 
Famine compelled them to seek the land. Enter- 
ing the mouth of a large river, which they called 
Xagua, and which afforded a harbor for their fleet, 
they cast anchor. The region was quite densely in- 
habited by Indians, inoffensive and friendly. They 
had for some years conducted trade with the Span- 
iards, which was profitable to both parties. The 
Indians received, in exchange for cocoa, articles 
from Europe, to them of priceless value. 

There were many picturesque Indian villages, 
scattered along the banks of the river, beneath 
cocoa groves, and surrounded by orange plantations 
and fields of Indian corn. The natives had also 
learned the value of swine and poultry, and were well 
supplied with both. When they saw the fleet ap- 
proaching they were not alarmed, but rejoiced, as 
they were eager both to sell and to buy. They 
sprang into their canoes, loading them with vege- 
tables, fruit, and fowls, and with smiling faces pad- 
dled out to the ships. 

How shall I describe the scenes which ensued ? 
Burke, I think, says, " to speak of atrocious crime in 



180 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

mild language is treason to virtue." These incar- 
nate fiends shot down the poor Indians, men and 
women, in mere wantonness — for the fun of' it. 
Boats filled with these armed demons then went 
ashore. They shot the men, as they could. They 
took many women captives. They stripped the In- 
dians of everything, swine, poultry, fruit, corn, and 
then burned their villages. 

The renowned French historian, Michelet, 
though an unbeliever in the Christian religion, says 
that when writing the account of the atrocities per- 
petrated by the ancient nobility of France upon 
the peasantry, he found himself praying to God that 
there might be some future punishment, where 
these tyrants, clothed in purple and sumptuously 
feeding, might receive the due award for their crimes. 

The amount of food obtained, furnished but a 
few days' supply for seven hundred hungry mouths. 
Lolonois decided to remain there at anchor until 
the weather should prove more favorable. In the 
mean time he sent his armed boats up the river and 
along the shores in both directions for indiscriminate 
plunder. The whole region was devastated. The 
terrified Indians fled in all directions, taking with 
them what they could. Notwithstanding the ut- 
most diligence of the plunderers, they could each 
day bring in barely enough for the day's supply. 



HIS NEW ENTERPRISE. 1.8 1 

When the pirates had got everything here upon 
which they could lay their hands, they weighed an- 
chor and worked their way slowly along the coast 
several leagues, until they reached a harbor called 
Port Cavallo. This was a trading-post of the Span- 
iards. They had here two capacious store-houses, 
to hold the goods which they received from the 
natives, and the articles brought from Spain to give 
to them in return. Ships occasionally arrived with 
fresh supplies, and to transport the purchases to 
Spain. 

There was at that time in the harbor a large 
Spanish ship, which mounted twenty-four guns and 
sixteen mortars. • But this one ship could make no 
effectual resistance against the fleet of the pirates. 
It was immediately seized. Its cargo had been 
mostly unloaded and carried back into the country, 
to be exchanged, in barter, with the Indians. They 
stripped the store-houses, and plundered and de- 
stroyed all the adjacent dwellings. They captured 
many prisoners, and put them to dreadful torture to 
compel them to confess, often when they had nothing 
which they could disclose. 

Lolonois hacked them to pieces with his sabre ; 
tore out their tongues ; dislocated their joints with 
the rack. He committed upon them, writes Es- 
quemeling, " the most insolent and inhuman cruel- 



1 82 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

ties that ever heathens invented, putting them to 
the crudest tortures they could imagine or devise. 
Oftentimes it happened that some of these misera- 
ble prisoners, being forced thereunto by the rack, 
would promise to discover the places where the fu- 
gitive Spaniards lay hidden ; which, being not able 
afterward to perform, they were put to more enor- 
mous and cruel deaths than they who were killed 
before." 

About twenty miles from Port Cavallo there 
was, not far from the coast, a small but thriving 
town called San Pedro. Lolonois took three hun- 
dred men and commenced his march to sack the 
place. He left his lieutenant, Moses Vauclin, in 
command of the men who were left behind with the 
ships. A few boats, well armed, were sent along the 
coast to render such asssistance as might be needful. 
Before starting he told his troops that he would 
always march at their head, sharing all theif dan- 
gers ; but that he would cut down the first one who 
manifested any disposition to retreat or gave the 
least sign of fear. 

There were no broad roads to traverse, but only 
intricate mule-paths, which could with difficulty be 
followed through the dense growth of a tropical 
forest. Two Spanish captives were taken as guides. 
The inhabitants of San Pedro, informed of their 



HIS NEW ENTERPRISE. • 1 83 

approach, sent out a party of men to intrench them- 
selves in ambush on the way. The narrow road led 
through gigantic forests with almost impenetrable 
thickets of brambles and thorns and interlacing vines 
on either side. 

When the pirates had advanced about nine 
miles, the Spaniards in ambush opened fire upon 
them. Taking deliberate aim, at the first discharge 
many of the pirates were killed, and more wounded. 
The battle which ensued was desperate on both 
sides. Lolonois, assuming that his guides had led 
him into the ambush, instantly cut them both down. 

The fury of the pirates was irresistible, and the 
Spaniards were put to flight. They left behind many 
dead and wounded. The pirates put to death all of 
the wounded, excepting one or two whom they re- 
served as guides. These they threatented with in- 
stant death if they did not guide them safely to the 
city. There was but one available path leading there. 
Intimidated by the awful threats of Lolonois, when 
he asked them if there were other ambuscades 
farther on, they said that there were. He then 
asked them if there were not some other path to 
the city, by which they could avoid the ambuscades. 
The guides replied that they did not know of any. 

Lolonois was in a great rage. He drew his 
sabre and cut one of the captives to pieces before 



1.84 * FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

the rest. He cut out his heart, seized it, and began 
to gnaw it, like a ravenous wolf. Then turning to 
the other captives, he said : 

" I swear unto you, by the death of God, that I 
will serve you all the same way if you do not lead 
me to the city by another route." 

Terror-stricken, the poor creatures endeavored to 
lead through the thickets. But they could not force 
their way. Lolonois was compelled to return to the 
former path. But he swore the most terrible oaths 
that the Spaniards should pay dearly for causing him 
so much trouble. The same evening they encoun- 
tered another ambuscade. Lolonois fell upon his 
foes with the same fury with which the tiger leaps 
upon its prey, apparently regardless of his own life, 
if he can but destroy his victim. In less than an 
hour the Spaniards were routed, and scarcely one 
escaped. 

The pirates, though victorious, were faint with 
fatigue, hunger, and thirst. They threw themselves 
down in the woo'ds that night, and, probably with 
consciences utterly seared, slept that sound sleep 
which toil and danger often bring. 

The next morning, at break of day, the pirates 
resumed their march. Ere long, they came upon 
a third ambuscade. This was much stronger and 
better planned than either of the others. The 



HIS NEW ENTERPRISE. 1 85 

pirates had provided themselves with a large number 
of fire-balls, which they showered down with much 
effect upon their foes. Lolonois seemed inspired 
with the fury of a madman. He foamed at the 
mouth and gnashed his teeth as he shouted : 

"No quarter; no quarter! The more we kill 
here, the less we shall meet in the town." 

But few of the Spaniards escaped to San Pedro. 
Nearly all were killed ; for the wounded were im- 
mediately dispatched. The pirates had now arrived 
within sight of the town. There was but one nar- 
row approach, and that the Spaniards had thor- 
oughly barricaded. The thorny shrubs which grew 
densely around were utter impenetrable. Nothing 
remained for the pirates but to make an instantane- 
ous attempt to storm the works. Several times they 
were driven back, but only to renew the conflict 
with increasing fury. This conflict, of fiend-like 
ferocity, continued four hours. The white flag of 
surrender was then unfurled from the town. 

After a brief parley, the citizens agreed to yield 
up the town, without further resistance, if they were' 
allowed two hours to retire with such articles as they 
could take away with them. Lolonois, who in this 
last battle had lost forty men, agreed to the terms. 
The Spaniards, with their wives and children, fled, 
with such few articles as they could carry in their 
arms or on the backs of mules. 



CHAPTER XI. 

The End of Lolonoiss Career. 

The Pirates' Perfidy. — Capture of a Spanish Ship. — Misery of the 
Pirates. — Desertion of Vauclin. — The Shipwreck. — Life upon 
the Island. — Expedition to Nicaragua. — Its utter Failure. — 
Ferocity of the Indians. — Exploring the River. — The Retreat. — 
Coasting to Darien. — Capture and Death of Lolonois. — Fate of 
the Remnants. 

LOLONOIS waited patiently the two hours which 
he had agreed to grant the inhabitants to vacate the 
place. He then entered the town, and, in perfidious 
disregard of the spirit of his engagement, dispatched 
armed bands to pursue the fugitives, and not only 
rob them of everything in their possession, but also 
to bring them all back as prisoners. 

This was done. But the thieves were much dis- 
appointed in the amount of plunder they found. 
San Pedro was by no means a wealthy place. The 
inhabitants gained a comfortable but frugal living, 
mainly by raising indigo. 

The pirates, in their great disappointment, sup- 
posed, as usual, that much treasure had been con- 
cealed. They therefore put their captives to the 



END OF LOLONOIS'S CAREER. 1 87 

torture, to force them to point out the places of con- 
cealment. Though many died under the terrible 
infliction, no discoveries were made. The pirates, in 
revenge, laid the town in ashes. In this fruitless 
expedition they lost about one hundred men in killed 
and wounded, endured great suffering, and inflicted 
inconceivable misery upon their brother man. 

About one hundred and fifty miles southwest of 
San Pedro was the rich old Spanish town of Guate- 
mala, capital of the capacious province of that name. 
Lolonois, in his frenzied state of mind, was deter- 
mined' to send back to the ship for reinforcements, 
and then to march upon Guatemala. But his piratic 
crew refused to accede, to so insane a proposal. 

For eighteen days these marauders lingered 
around San Pedro, before they applied the torch. 
They then, leaving only ruins and misery behind 
them, returned to the fleet. Those left there had 
employed their time in robbing the Indians, burning 
their huts, and inflicting all manner of evil upon 
their families. Some of these captives on the coast 
informed them that about sixty miles west, at the 
mouth of the great river of Gautemala, called Mon- 
tagua, there was a large Spanish ship, which had 
recently arrived from Spain. 

As soon as Lolonois arrived, several boats filled 
with pirates, thoroughly armed, were sent to capture 



1 88 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

the ship. The Indians had informed the inmates 
of the ship of the presence of the pirates. Antici- 
pating a visit, they had made such preparations as 
they could to repel them. The ship mounted forty- 
two guns, was well supplied with small arms, and had 
a select crew of one hundred and thirty fighting 
men. 

The pirates, after opening fire upon the ship for 
some time, from one of their vessels with twenty- 
two heavy guns, sent four boats, each carrying about 
forty men, to clamber over the bulwarks of the ship, 
cutlass in hand, at four points. In this assault they 
were much aided by a dense fog, which, blending 
with the smoke of the powder, had settled down so 
heavily as to conceal the approach of the boats. 

The crew were sailors. The pirates were veteran^ 
soldiers. The conflict was like that between well- 
trained regulars and raw militia. Very soon the 
pirates were masters of the ship, and the deck was 
covered with the dead and the dying. But again 
these wretched plunderers were disappointed. The 
vessel had been almost entirely unladen. Its remain- 
ing cargo consisted of twenty thousand reams of 
paper and one hundred tons of iron bars. Neither 
of these were of any use to the pirates. The ship, 
however, with its great guns, its small arms, and 
its abundance of ammunition, was deemed a great 



END OF HIS CAREER. 1 89 

acquisition. But God so ordered it that even this 
capture proved a calamity rather than an aid to the 
enterprises of Lolonois. 

The desperate leader of this piratic gang called 
a general council, and insisted upon the march across 
the country to Guatemala. It was a stormy session. 
The general discontent was expressed in curses and 
oaths, and bitter recriminations. , Nearly one-fourth 
of their number had perished. They had endured 
almost intolerable sufferings. As yet they had ac- 
complished nothing in the way of enriching them- 
selves. And now they were urged to embark on a 
desperate enterprise, where they certainly would be 
exposed to the greatest hardships, and where all 
would probably perish. 

These men had embarked from Tortuga, with 
the expectation that dollars and doubloons would 
be gathered by shovelfuls. They were now poor, 
hungry, mutinous, angry with each other, and 
the prospect before them was discouraging in the 
extreme. All thoughts of ravaging Nicaragua, in 
their present state of despondency and with the 
great diminution of their numbers, were relinquished. 

Moses Vauclin had charge of the splendid ship 
recently captured. His ship was a swift sailer. 
With one or two officers conspiring with him, and 
his crew of nearly one hundred and fifty men gained 



190 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

over, they decided to run away and cruise on their 
own account. In the night they silently raised their 
anchors, took advantage of a fresh breeze, and, before 
the morning's dawn, disappeared beyond the horizon. 
When Lolonois awoke and found that he was thus 
deserted, the madman paced his deck in a frenzy 
of impotent rage. 

The fugitives could not endure the idea of return- 
ing penniless to Tortuga, where they would thus 
become the laughing-stock of the whole community. 
The wind favored them. They ran along the coast 
of Honduras and Nicaragua to the south, until they 
reached the province of Costa Rica. In their des- 
peration, being resolved to accomplish something, 
they landed and attacked and sacked the poor little 
town of Veruguas, killing many of the inhabitants. 
The furniture in the huts of these poor people was 
of no value to them. They gained only the pitiful 
sum of about forty dollars' worth of gold, which the 
slaves had washed out from the mud of the rivers. 

This region was low and unhealthy. The Span- 
ish grandees, who owned the mines and cultivated 
them by the compulsory labor of slaves, had their 
residences in the more healthy region of Nata, at 
the distance of several leagues. The Spaniards be- 
gan to gather in large numbers to repel the in- 
vaders. The pirates, alarmed, fled to their ship, and 



END OF HIS CAREER. I9I 

returned to Tortuga. Here they disbanded, and we 
learn no more of the fate of this portion of Lolonois's 
army. Each one, doubtless, found his way, through 
crime and misery, to death and to the judgment-seat 
of Christ. 

Lolonois was left at Port Cavallo, with but about 
two hundred men. He was almost destitute of food ; 
most of his ammunition was consumed ; many were 
sick from the insalubrity of the climate, and all were 
dissatisfied, clamorous, and angry. 

Lolonois remained for some time in the Bay of 
Honduras. Esquemeling writes : " His ship was too 
great to get out at the time of the reflux of those 
seas, which the smaller vessels could more easily 
do." 

Every day he sent his boats ashore for food. 
The fruit of the region was soon all consumed, 
and they fed on the flesh of parrots and monkeys. 
Slowly working their way along the coast by the 
night breeze, they found the days generally calm. 
Casting anchor in the morning, they sought provi- 
sions in fishing and hunting. At length they rounded 
the extreme eastern point of Honduras, at Cape 
Gracios a Dios. Just beyond, a group of islands 
called the Pearl Islands, hove in sight. 

The indomitable Lolonois was still determined to 
ravage a portion of the rich province of Nicaragua. 



192 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

It was his plan to anchor his vessels at the mouth 
of the river St. John, by which the great inland 
sea called Lake Nicaragua empties its waters 
into the ocean, and then to ascend the majestic 
stream in his armed boats. While sailing among the 
islands in an almost unknown sea, he ran his ship 
upon a sandbank. All his efforts to float the ship 
again were in vain. With infinite labor he took out 
the heavy guns and the iron ; but the ship had sunk 
too deep in the sand to be moved. 

Finding his ship thus hopelessly wrecked, he 
decided to break her to pieces, and with her planks 
and nails to construct a lar.ge and strong boat with 
which he -could ascend the river. The crew all 
landed upon an island, built themselves huts in the 
Indian fashion, and, with a reckless disregard of mis- 
fortune, commenced building their boat. Expecting 
that it might be necessary to spend some time there, 
they dug gardens and planted peas and other vege- 
tables. 

The island upon which they were was large, and 
was inhabitated by a very fierce tribe of Indians. 
But their clubs and lances armed with crocodiles' 
teeth were but impotent weapons, when met by the 
muskets, the pistols, and the sabres of the pirates. 
The Indians had doubtless heard of the atrocities 
committed by these rovers over seas and land, for 



END OF HIS CAREER. I 93 

they fled precipitally at their approach, and taking 
to their canoes, actually abandoned the island. 

The vegetables which the pirates sowed grew 
rapidly. It was six months before their large boat, 
or rather small vessel, was completed. In the mean 
time they raised quite large crops of beans, wheat, 
potatoes, and bananas. It is strange that this expe- 
rience did not teach them that they could much 
more easily and happily gain a living by honest than 
by dishonest means. But still they clung to the 
misery of piracy, with its crime, its cruelty, and its 
wild revelry. 

When the vessel was finished. Lolonois took one- 
half of his company, or about one hundred men, in 
this vessel and a ship which remained to him, and 
sailed for the mouth of St. John's River. The other 
half were left behind. As nothing was said about 
the other smaller vessels of the fleet, it is probable 
that they all had been lost in the various casualties 
of their voyage, or had escaped with Vauclin. It 
was known that the Indians on the river had very 
large boats, formed by hollowing out the trunk of a 
gigantic tree. These boats, ingeniously made, and 
the result of almost incredible labor, would accom- 
modate forty or fifty warriors. It was Lolonois's inten- 
tion to rob the Indians of some of their boats, send 
them back to the island for the pirates who were 
9 



194 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

left behind, and then, with his whole party, to ascend 
the river in an invincible fleet. 

Lolonois set sail, and in a short time reached the 
mouth of the St. John's River. But the Indians, who 
had fled from the island, had spread the news, all 
along the coast, of the arrival of the terrible pirates. 
Spaniards and Indians were thus influenced to 
combine to meet them wherever they might land. 
Their progress in building their vessel had been 
carefully watched by spies, who effectually concealed 
themselves from sight. 

As Lolonois' and his party entered the river they 
expected to take the inhabitants by surprise, and 
had not the slightest idea of being surprised them- 
selves. But their vessel had been watched as it ap- 
proached. There was a pleasant sheltered cove sur- 
rounded by the luxuriant and magnificent growth of 
the tropics. It could not be doubted that this spot 
would be selected for their landing-place. Nature 
had decked it with the charms of Eden. Here a 
well-armed band of Spaniards and Indians posted 
themselves in ambuscade. Palm-trees and cocoanut- 
trees rose gracefully around them. Golden oranges 
and lemons hung profusely from orchards which God 
had planted and cultivated. Birds of every variety 
of brilliant plumage flitted from bough to bough. 
All the sights and sounds of nature seemed to say 



END OF HIS CAREER. 1 95 

that God had made this for a happy world ; that his 
children might live here in fraternal love, surrounded 
by abundance. 

The pirates cast anchor in the lovely cove, where 
the glittering sand could be seen fathoms deep, be- 
neath the water of crystal clearness. They had sev- 
eral small boats. All were impatient to reach the 
land. Scarcely had their boats touched the beach, 
and the men were clustered together in landing, 
when the Eden-like scene of peace and loveliness, 
was changed into an earth-like scene of noise and 
tumult and smoke and groans and blood. 

There was a sudden discharge of musketry from 
the surrounding thickets within half gun-shot. The 
Spaniards had armed the Indians and taught them to 
take unerring aim. Both Spaniards and savages 
united in the most hideous yells to appal the pirates 
with an idea of their superior numbers. Rapidly the 
unseen foe continued the discharge of the murder- 
ous bullets. Scarcely a minute elapsed ere many 
were dead, weltering in their blood. Others were 
severely wounded. And still the pitiless storm 
of leaden hail swept through the group, crashing 
bones and tearing nerves, and still the yells of the 
invisible assailants resounded through the forest. 
There was not a breath of air. The sulphurous 
smoke settled down, half concealing the awful spec- 
tacle of blood and death. 



I96 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

Even the demoniac pirates were so panic-stricken 
that they dared not by a charge rush into the very 
jaws of destruction. Every instant their comrades 
were dropping. There was no time for thought. 
Those not yet struck leaped into the boats and 
pushed from the shore, leaving the dying and the 
dead in the water and upon the sand. Still the 
pelting storm pursued them till they were beyond 
gun-shot reach. 

Lolonois, the greatest villain of them all, escaped 
unharmed. Did God preserve him that he might 
drain to the dregs the cup of mental and bodily 
misery which he had so often presented to the lips 
of others ? In view of what he had yet to endure, 
he might indeed have deemed it one of the richest 
of mercies had a bullet pierced heart or brain, and 
laid him instantly with the dead. 

The wretch had sufficient intelligence to perceive 
that he was ruined. There was no longer any hope 
of ravaging Nicaragua. His provisions were exhaust- 
ed. He had no doubt that the whole coast was 
armed against them. As by lightning-bolts he had 
lost nearly one-half of his crews. Desponding, starv- 
ing, he divided his company into two bands, to 
sail where they could, to save themselves from per- 
ishing by hunger. 

Lolonois, with thirty or forty men, ran along the 




B 



END OF HIS CAREER. I97 

coast toward South America, till they reached the 
region of Carthagena. They were few and feeble, 
and feared to land. The atrocities committed by 
the pirates were everywhere known. Upon every 
league of the coast either the Spaniards or the In- 
dians were watching for their approach, ready to 
give the general alarm, and to summon all who could 
be rallied to repel them. 

Their water-casks were empty. They must ob- 
tain fresh water or perish of thirst. Having passed 
the Gulf of Darien, he ventured to land, taking his 
whole force with him. It so chanced, or Providence 
so ordered it, that he landed on the territory of one 
of the fiercest tribes of Indians known in all that 
region. They were called Bravos. The Spaniards 
had never been able to subdue them. These fierce 
and cunning savages surrounded the pirates and 
shot down or captured the whole band. Still not a 
bullet struck Lolonois. He was reserved for another 
doom. Most of the captured pirates were burned 
alive. But the savages thought that too merciful a 
death for the leader of the band. 

They bound him to a tree. Hour after hour, 
according to their custom, they tortured him, being 
careful to prolong his sufferings by not piercing 
any vital point. Every device of savage ingenuity 
was resorted to, which might extort agony from his 



I98 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. 

quivering nerves. There was no one to pity. Even 
humanity says he merited it all. At last the savages, 
howling in frenzied merriment around him, and 
raising new shouts whenever they could force from 
him new shrieks of agony, weary with the demoniac 
pastime, hewed off one of his arms and threw it into 
the fire. They then hewed off the other and com- 
mitted it to the flames. The same was done with his 
legs. Then his head was cut off, and with his mem- 
berless body was consumed to ashes. Such was the 
earthly life, and such the earthly death of Francis 
Lolonois. We say the earthly life. There is ano- 
ther life. There is a second death. Lolonois still 
lives in the spirit-land. What is his character there ? 
The pirates who remained upon the island, weary 
of waiting for the boats, were quite m despair. But 
one morning their eyes were^ cheered by the sight 
of a very large ship passing near by. Their signals 
were seen and the ship hove to. It proved to be a 
pirate bound for the sack of Carthagena. The cap- 
tain was delighted to add a hundred desperate fel- 
lows to his gang. The pirates, who had now been 
ten months upon the island, and were in a state of 
great despondency, destitution, and suffering, were 
as glad as such wicked men could be in this escape 
from their miseries, and this new opportunity to 
renew their ravages. 



END OF HIS CAREER. I99 

There were several Carthagenas in the various 
provinces of the New World. The one they were 
to attack was in Honduras, on the river Segoria, 
which empties into Cape Gracios a Dios. Their plan 
was to cast anchor in the mouth of the river, and 
ascend the stream in boats. The piratic captain 
was greatly elated, for he had now at his command 
between five and six hundred men. 

They reached the mouth of the river in safety. 
A few men were left in charge of the ship. Over 
five hundred were crowded into the boats. There 
was no space for storing provisions ; neither was it 
thought necessary. It was supposed that an ample 
supply of food would be found in the villages on the 
river banks. But the Indians transmitted intelli- 
gence with almost the rapidity of telegraphic dis- 
patches. From village to village the tidings ran. 

The Indians, conscious of their inability to con- 
tend with the well-armed pirates, fled. They took 
with them all the food they could. The rest they 
destroyed. The invaders found themselves reduced 
almost to starvation. They ate roots and herbs, 
and even the leaves of the trees. A blazing trop- 
ical sun poured its rays down upon their crowded 
open boats, blistering their skin with the intense 
heat. Sickness came, with languor, pain, wretch- 



200 FRANCIS LOLONOIS. i 

edness. Their own crimes were chastising, them 
with scorpion lashes. 

There was but misery in those boats, with uni- 
versal discontent and oaths and fightings. In their 
despair they landed, five hundred maddened, starv- 
ing men, hating themselves and hating each other. 
They hoped that at a little distance back from the 
river they might find some villages which had not 
been abandoned. In this they were disappointed. 
The natives watched them closely, and fled before 
them. 

They commenced a retreat back to the ship. 
Many died. Many fell by the wayside and were cap- 
tured by the savages. The Indians pursued them, 
watching every opportunity to strike a blow. They 
were too weak to resist. They could scarcely wield a 
paddle or lift a musket. Their starvation and misery 
was so great that they resolved to kill and devour 
the first Indian they could meet. But this kind of 
game kept beyond the reach of their balls. They 
ate their shoes, their leather belts, even the sheaths 
of their swords. 

At length a skeleton band reached the ship. 
There was but little food there. Still they spread 
their sails, and disappeared. We hear of them no 
more. 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Female Pirate, Mary Read. 

Testimony of Charles Johnson. — Marriage of Mary Read's Mother. — 
Singular Adventure. — Reasons for Disguising her Daughter. — 
Early Training of Mary as a Boy. — She Enlists on board a Man- 
of-war. — The Character' she Developed. — Enters the Army. — 
Skill and Bravery. — Falls in Love with a Fleming. — Reveals 
her Sex. — The Marriage. — Happy Days. — Death of her Husband. 
— Adversity. — Resumes Male Attire. 

In writing the account of Captain Kidd and 
other conspicuous pirates of his day, we have had 
occasion to refer to many ancient documents. In 
their examination we have come across numerous 
incidents, extraordinary in their character. Among 
these are the well-accredited careers of two female 
pirates, Mary Read and Ann Bonny. Their lives 
illustrate the common remark that fact is often 
stranger than fiction. We are mainly indebted, for 
the wild and wondrous story of their adventures, 
to the narrative of Captain Charles Johnson. The 
second edition of his valuable history of the pirates 
now lies before me. It was published in London, in 
the year 1724. In the preface to this work the writer 
says : 

9* 



202 THE FEMALE PIRATES. 

" As to the lives of our two female pirates, we 
must confess they may appear a little extravagant, 
yet they are nevertheless true. But as they were 
publicly tried for their piracies, there are living 
witnesses enough to justify what we have laid down 
concerning them. It is certain that we have pro- 
duced some particulars which were not publicly 
known. The reason is we were more inquisitive into 
the circumstances of their past lives than other peo- 
ple who had no other design than that of gratifying 
their own private curiosity. If there are some inci- 
dents and turns in their stories, which may give 
them a little the air of a novel, they are not invented 
or contrived for that purpose. It is a kind of read- 
ing this author is but little acquainted with. But as 
he himself was exceedingly diverted with them, 
when they were related to him, he thought they 
might have the same effect on the reader." 

A young girl in one of the seaports in England, 
about one hundred and seventy-five years ago, mar- 
ried a sailor. Not many months after their marriage 
the sailor left home for a distant voyage, and never 
returned. She never knew whether he deserted her, 
or whether he died far away. When he sailed she 
was expecting soon to become a mother. She re- 
sided with her husband's relatives. In due time the 
child was born, and proved to be a boy. 



MARY READ. 203 

The mother was a young, light, trifling girl, of 
fair reputation, and not very careful habits, who ere 
long found that she was about to become a mother 
again. As the months advanced, in order to con- 
ceal her shame, she took leave of her husband's rela- 
tives, informing them that she was going to visit her 
own friends at some distance in the country. Her 
little boy, who accompanied her, was then not a year 
old. 

Soon after her departure her son died ; and she, 
ere long, gave birth to another child, who proved to 
be a girl. The mother remained away four years. 
In the mean time she had very little communication 
with her former relatives ; and they had no knowl- 
edge of the death of her son, or of the birth of her 
daughter. Her husband's mother was still living. 
She was in comfortable circumstances, though aged 
and infirm, with impaired vision. The mother of the 
little girl thought 'that if she could pass her child 
upon the aged mother of her husband, as his son, 
whom she had seen and loved, the child would be 
liberally provided /or. But the changing of a girl 
into a boy seemed to be an insuperable difficulty. 
She, however, dressed the child up as a boy, and pre- 
sented it to her mother-in-law as her husband's son. 
No one suspected the deception. The good old 
woman embraced it cordially, and was anxious to 



204 THE FEMALE PIRATES. 

adopt it as her own, promising amply to provide 
for it. 

But the cunning mother declared that it would 
break her heart to part with the child, that she could 
not be separated from it. It was, however, agreed 
that the child should reside with the mother, while 
the supposed grandmother should allow a crown a 
week for its maintainance. The child was thus 
brought up as a boy. The mother watched over her 
with the utmost vigilance, instructing her to guard 
the secret of her sex with the greatest possible 
care. 

At length the grandmother died : the little prop- 
erty vanished, and the mother and child were in a 
situation of much destitution. The child was now 
thirteen years of age, bright, well formed, and good 
looking, with a thoroughly boyish character. There 
was a French lady, in the neighborhood, who took 
the child into her service, as page and footboy. 
The feminine nature was soon entirely swallowed 
up in manly yearnings and desires. 

She was bold and strong, and developed a roving 
disposition and a love for wild adventures. We are 
not informed of her masculine name. Her feminine 
name was Mary. For convenience' sake we will call 
her Frank, during the period of her disguise. Frank 
enlisted on board a man-of-war, and served in the 



MARY READ. 20$ 

capacity of a sailor, energetically and successfully, 
for several months. No one was more nimble in 
running up the shrouds, or in taking in reefs when 
the majestic fabric was tossed like a bubble upon the 
gigantic waves. 

Soon weary of this employment, Frank, appa- 
rently a graceful, well-built boy of nineteen, enlisted 
in the army. Shouldering a musket, and very rap- 
idly becoming a proficient in military drill, she fell 
into the line and accompanied a regiment of foot to 
Flanders. She was in several severe battles. It is 
said that in time of action, no one of the regiment 
conducted with more reckless bravery. She seemed 
to lose all consciousness of danger, and, if we may so 
express it, in a state of frenzy which rendered her 
calm by its very intensity, was as regardless of shells, 
cannon-balls, and bullets, as though they had been 
snowflakes. 

She would certainly have been promoted could 
merit have secured that honor. But in mercenary 
England, at that time, no commission could be ob- 
tained but such as was purchased with gold. Ever 
consumed by restless desires, Frank, ere long, suc- 
ceeded in exchanging the infantry service for a sit- 
uation in a regiment of horse. Here Frank's lithe 
and graceful figure Showed to great advantage. 
There was not in the company a bolder rider, a 



206 THE FEMALE PIRATES. 

more dexterous manager of the war-horse than 
she. 

Even the steed she strode seemed conscious that 
he bore a more than ordinarily precious burden. 
There was something in the gentle tones of her 
voice, and in her caressings, which the proud horse 
seemed to recognize, ever welcoming her approach 
with his neighings. The officers greatly admired 
Frank, and felt a strange kind of interest in the un- 
boastful yet chivalric heroism he displayed in several 
bloody engagements. 

The old Latin maxim hath it, " Amor omnia 
vincit," Love conquers all things. It so happened 
that there was in the ranks a comrade, ever riding 
by the side of Frank, who was a very handsome young 
Fleming, about twenty-three years of age. He was 
a gentle, lovable fellow, and equally brave as his- 
gentle, lovable comrade, for whom he formed a very 
strong friendship. He slept in the same tent, and 
by the side of Frank. They were ever together, 
helping each other. 

The girl nature of Frank could not resist all this. 
She fell desperately in love with the fair-faced, 
flaxen-haired Flemish boy. Whenever the young 
Fleming was ordered out upon any party, Frank 
insisted upon accompanying him ; and the more des- 
perate the adventure, the more resolute were her 



MARY READ. 20/ 

importunities to share the peril with him. It was 
observed that frequently Frank would rush into the 
greatest danger, simply that she might be near her 
friend, even when she could render him no assist- 
ance. 

This extraordinary devotion of Frank to her 
comrade the Fleming, attracted the attention of 
the whole company. As no one suspected, in the 
slightest degree, her disguise, it was supposed that 
there must be a vein of insanity in the nature of the 
quiet, retiring, handsome soldier boy. 

Mary had a very fair complexion. One morning, 
in her tent, she pretended to be asleep, and allowed 
her drapery so to fall as partially to expose her fair 
and beautiful bosom. The Fleming gazed upon the 
spectacle bewildered equally with astonishment and 
delight. Her sex was revealed. The young Flem- 
ing, accustomed to the license of the camp, kept the 
secret ; but was surprised to find that he could not 
approach the fair sharer of his tent with the slight- 
est movement of indelicacy. 

Mary was instinctively proud ; and for years she 
had so resolutely triumphed over so many tempta- 
tions, that she could not be led to degrade herself. 
'She felt proud in the consciousness that, thus far, 
there was not a single blot upon her fair fame. She 
was more than ready to be wooed and won as a wife. 



208 THE FEMALE PIRATES. 

But no lady in the parlor of home could be more 
modest and reserved in receiving the addresses of 
a lover, than was Mary in her intercourse with 
the lover who shared her tent. Her good sense 
taught her that if she would secure and maintain 
his love, she must, by indubitable proof, win his 
highest confidence and respect. 

Strange as this story may appear to the reader, 
there seems to be no reason to doubt its accuracy. 
The young Fleming urged her to become his wife. 
To this proposal she did not long hesitate to accede. 
They plighted their mutual faith. The campaign 
soon ended. The regiment went into winter quar- 
ters. The two lovers united their purses, and pur- 
chased a woman's wardrobe as the bridal outfit for 
Frank. She assumed her new garb, and announced 
her sex to her amazed fellow-soldiers. 

These strange tidings created great excitement 
in the camp. They were publicly married. A great 
crowd attended the espousals. Many of the officers 
assisted in the ceremony, and the bride received 
many presents. There was a general contribution 
among all her comrades to raise a sum to assist her 
in commencing housekeeping. Frank had been a 
universal favorite, and had secured the esteem of all. 

Being thus comfortably established, they both 
had a desire to quit the service. The circumstances 



MARY READ. 20O, 

were so romantic and peculiar that they found no 
difficulty in obtaining their discharge. They then 
established themselves in Flanders, in a restaurant 
or eating-house. Their little inn, kept with British 
neatness, was near the Castle of Breda, and was 
known far and wide by the name of its sign, " The 
Three Horse-Shoes." They had a large run of cus- 
tom, and were particularly patronized by the officers 
of the army. 

They were very happy. But prosperity, in this 
world, does not long shine upon any one. Peace 
came. The army was dispersed. There were no 
longer any guests at " The Three Horse-Shoes;" 
and Mary's husband was taken sick, and died. She 
was left childless and without any means of support. 
She had been trained to the pursuits of manhood. 
She was a young widow, but little more than twenty 
years of age. As a woman, she knew not in what 
direction to turn to obtain a living. Only for a few 
months had she assumed the character of a woman, 
and worn the garb of a woman. All the rest of her 
years she had worn the -dress and followed the pur- 
suits of a man. As a man, there were many oppor- 
tunities opening before her, and all congenial ones, 
for obtaining a support. 

Again she assumed her masculine attire, sold out 
all her effects, and with gold enough in her purse to 



2IO THE FEMALE PIRATES. ' 

meet her immediate wants, set out for Holland, 
where, a perfect stranger, she entered again upon 
her masculine career, without any fear of detection. 
Quartered upon one of the frontier towns of Hol- 
land there was an English regiment of foot. It 
was a time of peace, and the soldiers were living in 
indolence, with nothing to do. It was easy, under 
these circumstances, to join the regiment, and to 
purchase a release, at any time when one might 
wish to do so. 

Again Frank enlisted. After a few months, 
weary of the monotonous life, she obtained a dis- 
charge, and shipped herself, as a common sailor, on 
board a vessel bound for the West Indies. It was a 
Dutch vessel. Frank was the only English person 
on board. On the voyage, an English pirate hove 
in sight and ran down upon the merchant-ship. 
The pirate was so well armed, and such a throng of 
desperate men crowded its decks, that resistance 
would have been but folly. The ship was captured 
without a struggle. 

The pirate, after plundering the ship of all its 
treasures, impressed the English Frank as an addi- 
tion to its own crew ; and then turned the despoiled 
ship adrift, inflicting no personal injury upon the 
officers or sailors. As we have before mentioned, 
these buccaneers did not regard themselves, at that 



MARY READ. 211 

time, neither were they regarded by others, as ordi- 
nary pirates would now be judged. They were act- 
ing in a certain sense under the royal commission. 
They wereauthorized to plunder all Spanish ships. 
And if they occasionally made a mistake, and did 
not read the flag aright, it was an irregularity not 
entirely unpardonable. 

This piratic ship continued its cruise of plunder- 
ing for several months. Frank had been impressed 
on board, and could not escape had she wished to 
do. Probably her moral sense was not sufficiently 
instructed to lead her to make any remonstrances, 
which would, of course, have been entirely unavail- 
ing, or to feel any special qualms of ccnscience. 
Accustomed as she ever had been to the masculine 
dress, and to all the habits of the sailor and the sol- 
dier, she did not feel the least embarrassment in her 
new situation. No one moved about the decks or 
clambered the shrouds with more free motion than 
Frank. 

r 

Just about this time the royal proclamation, to 
which we have referred, came out, offering pardon 
to all pirates who would surrender themselves, ex- 
cepting Kidd and Avery. The crew of this ship of 
buccaneers decided to take advantage of this procla- 
mation. 

The West-Indian group, called the Bahamas, con- 



212 THE FEMALE FIRATES. 

sists of several hundred islands of various magni- 
tudes. One of these, San Salvador, was the first 
land, in the New World, which was discovered by 
Columbus. The most important of the group, from 
its excellent harbor, and its situation in reference to 
Florida, is New Providence. The island was origin- 
ally settled by the English in 1629. It was captured 
by the Spaniards, and the English were expelled, in 
the year 164.1. The merciless Spaniards murdered 
the governor, and committed many other great out- 
rages. Again, in the year 1666, the thunders of Brit- 
ish broadsides echoed along its shores, and the ban- 
ners of England were again unfurled over its moun- 
tains and fertile vales. Forty-seven years passed 
away, over this war-cursed globe, when, in 1703, a 
united fleet of French and Spanish ships expelled 
the English, and, neglecting to take military posses- 
sion of the island, it became a rendezvous for pirates, 
where scenes of revelry, sensuality, and crime were 
perpetrated which no pen can describe. 

Thus for eighty years Heaven looked down upon 
its enormities. It was then again formally ceded to 
the English, and has since remained in their posses- 
sion. At the time of which we are writing .England 
held the island, and a British governor was in com- 
mand there. The buccaneers, with their purses well 
filled with gold, the result of their cruises as free- 



MARY READ. 213 

oooters, ran into the harbor of New Providence. 
They made their surrender to the governor, and re- 
ceived the royal pardon. 

Frank had been but a short time among them. 
Her purse was not a heavy one. It is not known 
that she added anything to it during her short and 
compulsory cruise on board the buccaneer. Her 
money was soon expended. The British governor 
at New Providence was at that very time fitting 
out several armed vessels to cruise against the 
Spaniards, as privateersmen. He was eager to en- 
list any of the bold buccaneers who could be lured 
to enter that service. Nothing could be more con- 
genial to the wishes of these desperate men. Frank, 
being out of employment, enlisted as privateersman, 
on board of one of these Government ships. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Anne Bonny, the Female Pirate. 

y Rackam the Pirate. — Anne Bonny his Wife. — Reasons for Assuming 
a Boy's Dress. — Infamous Character of Rackam. — Anne falls in 
Love with Mary. — Curious Complications. — The Duel. — Chivalry 
of Frank. — The Capture. — The Trial. — Testimony of the Artist. 
— Death of Mary Read. — Rackam Dies on the Scaffold. 

THERE was upon the island of New Providence, 
at that time, a very consummate villain by the name 
of Rackam. He had been captain of a pirate ship, 
and shared his cabin with his wife, a very depraved 
woman, who was disguised in boy's clothes. She 
apparently discharged the duties of a cabin-boy. 
This Captain Rackam had taken advantage of the 
king's proclamation, had surrendered himself as a 
pirate, and had received a pardon. 

Eagerly he enlisted, with his wife in man's garb, 
as a messmate, in one of the governor's privateers. 
No one on board the ship was aware of the sex of 
his companion. She was truly his wife, and her real 
name was Anne Bonny. She had been a rude, un- 
governable girl, and her parents were so displeased 
that she should have married such a worthless 



ANNE BONNY. 215 

wretch as Rackam was known to be, that they would 
no longer recognize her. Having nothing to live 
upon, she assumed a sailor's dress, and they both 
shipped for New Providence. He doubtless intended 
there to resume the career of a pirate. 

Rackam and Anne Bonny enlisted on board the 
same ship. Here then there were two women in 
male attire, neither of whom had any suspicion of 
the real sex of the other. No one could associate 
with such companions as those of Mary Read, or 
encounter the influences to which she was constantly 
exposed, without becoming in some degree cor- 
rupted. 

The privateersman had been out but a few days 
when Rackam, who had many of his old confede- 
rates on board, formed a conspiracy, rose upon the 
officers, set them adrift, seized the ship, and turned 
to his old trade. Mary Read, in the character of 
Frank, was, as we have mentioned, a very hand- 
some young fellow. The captain's cabin-boy, Anne 
Bonney, fell desperately in love with Frank, and 
revealed to him, as she supposed, her sex. She ap- 
proached Frank with all the seductions and allure- 
ments with which Potiphar's wife solicited Joseph. 
Thus importuned, Frank confided to her that she 
was also a woman in disguise. This led to increased 
intimacy between the two young sailor women. 



2l6 THE FEMALE PIRATES. 

Captain Rackam became intensely jealous of- his 
wife, in consequence of her familiarity with Frank. 
He threatened Anne that he would certainly cut 
Frank's throat. Anne, well aware of the desperate 
character of the pirate, felt constrained, that she might 
save Mary's life, to let the captain into the secret also. 
He did not divulge it, knowing that she might be 
exposed to very cruel treatment from the unprinci- 
pled wretches who thronged his decks. 

But again the all-devouring passion took posses- 
sion of the bosom of Frank. Many vessels were 
captured. After being plundered they were gen- 
erally turned adrift again, with their crews. If the 
pirates, however, found on board these ships any one 
who could be of use to them, he was detained on 
board their ship. It so chanced that one day they 
took a ship where there was a young English artist. 
Rackam, thinking that the artist might be of service 
to him, in sketching scenes and drawing charts, de- 
tained him as a captive. He was a genteel young 
fellow, handsome, of fascinating manners, very skil- 
ful with his pencil, and possessed of very attractive 
conversational powers. Frank and the young artist 
were instinctively drawn toward each other. 

And when Frank told her companion that she 
loathed the life of a pirate, that she was one of the 
crew by compulsion, and that she should embrace 



ANNE BONNY. 2\"J 

the first possible opportunity to escape, a new bond 
of union was formed between them. They became 
messmates, and were always together. He never 
had a doubt that the masculine pronoun,/^, belong- 
ed to his bronzed but smooth-cheeked and soft- 
voiced companion. 

Even on board a pirate ship there are many 
opportunities for seclusion. In the dark and tem- 
pestuous night, when the wine-heated officers were 
carousing in the cabin, and the crew were rioting in 
the forecastle, Frank and the artist, wrapped in 
those thick sailor-jackets which defy both wind and 
rain, would seek some retired position upon the 
deck, beneath the stormy sky, and beguile the 
weary hours in relating to each other the story of 
the past, and in planning measures for escape. 
Frank was the younger of the two, and in these 
hours of midnight communings, loved to recline 
with her head in the lap of her unsuspecting com- 
rade. 

The inevitable result ensued. The whole pas- 
sionate nature of the woman, still almost in her 
girlhood, became aglow with love of the young 
artist. In one of these midnight communings she 
revealed to her astonished friend her sex. His 
friendship was speedily converted into impassioned 
love. He had ever, under her assumed character, 
10 



218 THE FEMALE PIRATES. 

had occasion to respect her. He could not recall a 
single action of immodesty or impropriety. Alone 
in the darkness of the night, upon the solitary deck, 
with the stars alone looking down upon them, they 
went through the ceremony of what they both 
deemed a secret marriage. 

Mary Read ever averred that she regarded those 
nuptials as sacred as if the rite had been performed 
in the church, by the robed priest, and in the pres- 
ence of any number of witnesses. She was never 
accused of being unfaithful to her marriage vows, or 
of ever having been even indiscreet in her conduct. 

Still the months passed away. The ship contin- 
ued its piratic cruise. Frank, though secretly the 
wife of the artist, had excited no suspicion of her 
disguise. In her sailor's garb she still performed 
every duty imposed upon others of the crew. There 
were several bloody actions fought. In these en- 
gagements both she and Anne Bonny were called 
upon, like the rest, to work at the guns. 

It was one of the laws of the ship, that if any 
quarrel arose between any two of the crew, there 
should be no contention on board the ship, but that 
when they next approached an island, they should, 
with their friends, land in a boat, and settle the 
quarrel in a duel on the shore. The artist was so 
grossly insulted by one of the pirates, that he either 



ANNE BONNY. 219 

challenged him, or accepted a challenge from him to 
fight a duel. Frank would not have had her hus- 
band, on any account, refuse the hostile meeting. 
Public sentiment was such among the pirates, that 
had he done this, there would have been no end to 
the insults and abuse he would have received as a 
coward. 

Frank was in a state of great agitation and anx- 
iety for the fate of her lover. She was an admirable 
swordsman, and no one of the piratic crew was a 
truer shot with the pistol. Her love was so passion- 
ate that she felt that she could not live without that 
husband, whose union with her was so enhanced by 
the attractions which secrecy and" romance give. 
She was far more ready to peril her own life than to 
have his endangered. 

She therefore deliberately provoked such a quar- 
rel with the pirate who was soon to have a hostile 
meeting with her husband, as to compel him to an 
immediate and angry challenge. Adroitly she suc- 
ceeded in having the time appointed for their meet- 
ing two hours before the duel was to be fought with 
her husband. In her. intensely excited frame of 
mind she resolved to make sure work of it. 

They were to meet at but a few paces distance, 
discharge their pistols at each other, and then, with 
drawn swords, advance and fight until one or the 



220 THE FEMALE PIRATES. 

other was effectually disabled or killed. The pis- 
tols were discharged. Neither of them was seriously 
wounded. They then crossed swords. There was 
a fierce clashing of the weapons for a few minutes ; 
and then the agile Frank passed her sword through 
the body of her adversary, and he fell before her a 
bloody corpse. 

Such rencontres were too common with that 
ship's crew, and Frank had been too conversant all 
her days with such scenes of blood to have' it pro- 
duce any serious impression upon her mind. With 
much composure she wiped her crimsoned sword and 
returned to the ship, exulting in the thought that 
she had saved her husband's life. The attachment 
between Frank and her lover before this seems to 
have been very strong. But this event bound them 
more firmly together than ever before. 

Almost invariably, even in this world, retribution 
follows crime. After many successful captures, and 
much rioting and revelry with this godless crew, the 
hour of vengeance came. One day a swift-sailing 
English frigate, of powerful armament, caught sight 
of the pirate and gave chase. The vessel was over- 
taken and captured, and all her crew, in irons, were 
carried to England for trial. There was no disposi- 
tion to deal tenderly with these wretches, whose 
crimes could scarcely be numbered. The trial was 



ANNE BONNY. 221 

expeditious and the execution prompt. The young 
artist easily proved that he was a prisoner on board 
the ship, and had never taken any part in their 
piratic exploits. He was promptly released. . Frank 
was one of the pirates. Her assertion that she was 
reluctantly so, was of no avail. She had been of 
their recognized number ; she had been identified 
with them in all the employments of a sailor; she 
had taken an active part in their battles. 

One of the witnesses, who had been taken a pris- 
oner by Rackam, and detained for some time on 
board the pirates' craft, gave the following testimony 
against Frank, or rather against Mary Read ; for 
during the trial her sex had been divulged, and the 
embarrassing fact had been discovered that, ere long, 
she was to become a mother. The testimony was as 
follows : 

" I was taken prisoner by Rackam, and was 
detained for some time on board the pirate ship. 
One day I accidentally fell into discourse with the 
prisoner at the bar. She was dressed like the ordi- 
nary seamen, and I did not suppose her to be any- 
thing different. Taking her for a young man, I asked 
her what pleasure she could find in such enterprises, 
where her life was continually in danger by fire or 
sword ; and not only so, but she must be sure of 



222 THE FEMALE PIRATES. 

dying an ignominous death if she should be taken 
alive ? 

" She replied, that as to hanging, she deemed it 
no great hardship ; for were it not for that, every 
cowardly fellow would turn pirate, and so infest the 
seas that men of courage must starve, She said 
that were it put to the choice of the pirates, they 
would not have the punishment less than death ; for 
it was only the fear of death which kept many das- 
tardly rogues honest. Many of those, she said, who 
are now cheating the widows and orphans, and op- 
pressing their poor neighbors who have no money 
to obtain justice, would then rob at sea. Thus 
the ocean would be crowded with rogues like the 
land. No merchant would venture out. Trade in a 
little time would not be worth following. It is the 
fear of hanging alone which restrains thousands from 
piracy." 

When we consider the impossibility of making 
an exact report of conversation, and when we con- 
sider the situation of Frank among the pirates, and 
that her life would instantly have been forfeited if 
they had suspected her of unfaithfulness, we can 
imagine that essentially these remarks might have 
been made, without indicating any special moral de- 
linquency. Frank did not deny having made them. 

Several of the crew, however, brought forward 



ANNE BONNY. 223 

much more damaging testimony. When, to the 
astonishment of all, the sex both of Mary Read and 
Anne Bonny was made known to the court, the 
pirates seemed very desirous that their fate should 
be inseparably connected with their own. The tes- 
timony against Anne Bonny was very strong. She 
had accompanied her infamous husband in most of 
his adventures, and had rendered herself very con- 
spicuous by her courage and her energetic action. 

When the frigate took the pirate there was a 
short conflict. But the great guns of the frigate 
swept the pirate's deck with such a storm of grape- 
shot, that every one rushed into the hold, excepting 
Mary Read and Anne Bonny. Mary Read, it was 
said, called upon those under the deck to come up 
and fight like men. As they refused, in her rage 
she fired her pistol down among them, killing one 
and wounding others. This latter charge, which 
went far to condemn her, she utterly denied. Such 
bravado was not at all in accordance with her gen- 
eral character. But it was just the conduct to be 
expected of Anne Bonny. She was a desperado, as 
robust in person as she was masculine in character. 
Rumor said that before she entered upon her piratic 
career she stabbed a servant-maid with a carving- 
knife, and so severely beat a young fellow whom 
she disliked that he narrowly escaped with his life. 



224 ANNE BONNY. 

They were both pronounced guilty of piracy, and 
condemned to be hung. As it was not deemed 
right that Mary Read's child should forfeit its life in 
consequence of its mother's sins, Mary was allowed 
a reprieve, until after the birth of her child. Being 
remanded to her gloomy and solitary cell in New- 
gate prison, she awaited, with anguish, her approach- 
ing maternity, to be immediately followed by an 
ignominious death upon the scaffold. The horror of 
her situation threw her into a fever, of which she 
fortunately died. Thus she escaped the scaffold ; 
and she and her unborn babe slept in the grave to- 
gether. 

Rackam was hanged just before the time ap- 
pointed for the execution of his wife. The morn- 
ing on which he was led to the scaffold, he was first 
conducted to the cell of Anne Bonny. Her charac- 
teristic speech to him was : 

" I am sorry to see you here ; but if you had 
fought like a man, you need not have been hanged 
like a dog." 

In an hour from that time he was struggling in 
death's agonies. Anne was reprieved from time to 
time, and finally escaped execution, _ What at last 
became of her no one knows. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Sir Henry Morgan. 

His Origin. — Goes to the West Indies. — Joins the Buccaneers. — 
Meets Mansvelt the Pirate. — Conquest of St. Catharine. — Pi- 
ratic Colony there. — Ravaging the Coast of Costa Rica. — Sym- 
pathy of the Governor of Jamaica. — Death of Mansvelt. — Expedi- 
tion of Don John. — The Island Recaptured by the Spaniards. — 
Plans of Morgan. — His Fleet. — The Sack of Puerto Principe. — 
Horrible Atrocities. — Retreat of the Pirates. — The Duel. — They 
Sail for Puerto Velo. — Conquest of the City. — Heroism of the 
Governor. 

THOUGH the name of Sir Henry Morgan has not 
attained equal notoriety with that of Captain Wil- 
liam Kidd, his achievements were far more wonderful 
and infamous. He was born of a good and wealthy 
family in Wales. Early developing a roaming dis- 
position, he left his home for the seacoast, and 
there took passage for Barbadoes. In those days 
any man could obtain a passage to the colonies, by 
agreeing to pay the fare in service on the other side. 
Labor was in great demand. Upon the arrival of 
the ship the planters would hasten on board and 
pay the passage money, which the emigrant was to 
repay by certain stipulated months of labor. 
10* 



226 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

In this way Henry Morgan reached Barbadoes. 
Here his labor was sold to pay his passage, and he 
faithfully served out his term. He had come from a 
virtuous home, but rapidly the reckless boy yielded 
to the influences which surrounded him, until he 
became the worst of the bad. From Barbadoes he 
wandered over to Jamaica, seeking his fortune. 
Though there was then peace between England and 
Spain, the British Government was encouraging pri- 
vate piratical excursions against the commerce of 
Spain. As we have had frequent occasion to men- 
tion, these buccaneers had nothing to fear from the 
English courts so long as they confined themselves 
to robbing the Spanish ships. 

At Jamaica, Morgan found two vessels openly 
fitting out for these buccaneering expeditions. He 
shipped on board one of them, and made two or 
three very successful ^voyages. . Some men seem 
born to command. Such do not long remain 
in a subordinate position. Morgan was a man of 
the imperial mould. As he now had considerable 
money at his disposal, he proposed, to some of his 
comrades, that they should join stocks, purchase a 
vessel, and cruise on their own account. This was 
promptly done, and Morgan was unanimously 
chosen commander. 

Morgan was already a desperado. With a nume- 



MEETS THE PIRATE MANSVELT. 227 

rous crew and a well-armed vessel he set out to 
cruise along that portion of the Mexican coast called 
Campeachy. After an absence of a few months, he 
returned triumphantly to Jamaica, his ship laden 
with the spoil of many captures. This pirate took 
refuge beneath the flag of England and under the 
guns of ner fort. At that time the British Govern- 
ment was the most atrocious pirate earth had ever 
known ; for while at peace with Spain, the Govern- 
ment encouraged all private piratical expeditions 
against her commerce. 

In the streets of Jamaica, Morgan met a noto- 
rious pirate by the name of Mansvelt. The renown 
of this sea-robber had spread far and wide. He was 
then equipping a very considerable fleet, intending 
to man it with a sufficiency of troops to enable him 
to land upon the territory of the Spaniards and 
to plunder their 'cities. Mansvelt, seeing Morgan 
return with so many prizes, formed a high opinion 
of his skill and courage, and appointed him vice- 
admiral of his squadron. 

A fleet of fifteen ships was soon ready for sea, 
with a crew of five hundred pirates. About a thou- 
sand miles southwest of Jamaica, in Central America, 
was the Spanish province of Costa Rica, reaching 
across the narrow Isthmus of Panama from sea to 
sea. A few leagues from the shore, and but about 



228 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

one hundred miles north of the river Chagres, was 
the Island of St. Catharine, where the Spaniards had 
a small garrison. The pirates landed, captured the 
island, took the Spanish soldiers prisoners, and gar- 
risoned the fort with a hundred of their own men. 
They left a numerous band of slaves, taken from the 
Spaniards, to cultivate the soil for their new masters. 
A Frenchman, by the name of Le Sieur Simon, was 
placed in command. He was directed to put the 
island in the best posture for defence, and to set all 
the slaves at work to raise provisions on the fertile 
plantations. He was thus expected to revictual 
the fleet upon its return. It was evidently the in- 
tention of Mansvelt to establish there a colony of 
buccaneers, with fleet and army, of which colony he 
was to be the king. He had no fears of being inter- 
rupted in his operations by the British Government. 
Mansvelt again spread his sails, and, accompa- 
nied by his energetic vice-admiral Morgan, cruised 
along the eastern coast of Costa Rica. At various 
points he sent boats, armed with pirates, ashore to 
rob the villages. The Spanish governor of the ad- 
jacent province of Panama, on the south, hearing 
of these depredations, gathered all the forces at 
his disposal, and rousing the whole country, advanced 
to expel the pirates. Mansvelt retreated, and re- 
turned with his fleet to St. Catharine. Here he 



CONQUEST OF ST. CATHARINE. 229 

found that his agent had been very efficient, and 
that an ample supply of provisions was ready for his 
ships. 

This most infamous of pirates returned to the 
Island of Jamaica, held an interview with the gov- 
ernor, informed him frankly of his plans, and soli- 
cited the loan of a portion of his garrison to enable 
him to hold the island against any attempt of the 
Spaniards to regain it. The governor received 
the pirate courteously, expressed the fear that 
the King of England might not exactly approve 
of such undisguised hostility, when there was peace 
between the two countries, and stating also that his 
garrison was then so feeble -that he could not with 
safety diminish its strength. 

Mansvelt then repaired, with one of his ships, to 
the celebrated rendezvous of the buccaneers at Tor- 
tuga. While endeavoring to raise recruits among 
'the desperadoes assembled there, he was taken sick, 
and passed away, to answer for his guilty life at the 
tribunal of God. 

In the mean time, on the 14th of July, 1665, Don 
John, the governor of Panama, commenced organiz- 
ing an expedition to regain the island. He sent a 
ship, under Captain Joseph Ximines, thoroughly 
equipped, and manned by three hundred and eighty- 
two soldiers. The ship touched at Carthagena, with 



230 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

a letter to the commandant of the Spanish settlement 
there. He promptly added to the expedition three 
small armed vessels, with one hundred and twenty- 
six men. On the 2d of August this little fleet 
came in sight of the western end of the Island of 
St. Catharine. The wind was contrary. It was not 
until the 12th they entered the harbor and cast 
anchor before the pirates' strong fort. 

There was an interchange of a few shots between 
the stone castle and the fleet, which effected but lit- 
tle injury on either side. Ximines sent one of his 
officers on shore bearing a flag of truce, with the fol- 
lowing summons : 

" In the name of the King of Spain, I demand 
the surrender of this island. It was taken in the 
midst of peace between England and Spain. If the 
surrender is refused, and I am forced to take the 
works by storm, I shall certainly put all the garrison 
to the sword." 

The piratic commander returned the answer: 
" This island once belonged to the King of England. 
It rightly belongs to him now. We will sooner die 
than surrender." 

During the night of Friday, the 13th, three slaves 
swam off to the ships, and informed the command- 
ant that there were but seventy-two soldiers in the 
fort ; and that they were in great consternation in 



ST. CATHARINE RECAPTURED. 23 1 

view of the force brought against them. Saturday- 
was devoted to preparations for landing in the boats 
and storming the works. 

The morning of the Sabbath dawned beautifully- 
over the Eden-like luxuriance of the tropical isle. 

The vessels brought their broadsides to bear upon 
the fort, and, under cover of their fire, three strong 
parties were landed in the boats. Captain Leyva led 
sixty men to attack the principal gate. Captain 
Galeno, at the head of ninety men, took a circuitous 
route through the forest to attack the castle in the 
rear. The commander-in-chief, Ximines, with a still 
stronger force, assailed one of the sides. The con- 
flict was short, but not very bloody. Six of the 
pirates were killed, and a pretty large number 
wounded. The Spaniards lost but one man killed, 
and four wounded. 

The pirates endeavored to escape into the woods, 
but were cut off and all captured. There were found, 
in the fort, eight hundred pounds of powder, two hun- 
dred and fifty pounds of bullets, and also a large sup- 
ply of provisions and other material of war. Two 
Spaniards were taken who had enlisted with the 
buccaneers, to rob the commerce of Spain. They 
were immediately led out and shot. 

The fort proved to be very strong, and an excel- 
lent piece of workmanship. It was built of stone, 



232 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

quadrangular in form, with walls eighty-eight feet 
high. While these scenes were transpiring, Cap- 
tain Morgan, unconscious of them, was at Jamaica. 
Hearing of the death of Mansvelt, he, without oppo- 
sition, assumed the admiralship. He was straining 
every nerve to retain possession of St. Catharine, 
and so to strengthen the works as to make the 
island a safe and convenient store-house for the vast 
plunder of the buccaneers. 

As the governor of Jamaica declined adding to 
the piratic force, in St. Catharine, at the expense of 
his own garrison, Morgan wrote to leading merchants 
in Virginia and New England, urging them, by the 
promise of the most liberal pay, to send him pro- 
visions, ammunition, and other necessary articles. 
When the tidings reached him that the Spaniards 
had regained the island, he lost no time in unavail- 
ing regrets, but immediately turned, with demoniac 
energy, to other enterprises. 

With great vigor he commenced organizing a 
new fleet. His agents proudly strode through every 
English port, openly purchasing vessels and ammuni- 
tion, and mounting the guns. All the vessels were 
ordered to rendezvous, within a given time, at a soli- 
tary harbor on the south side of the Island of Cuba. 

This magnificent island is eight hundred miles in 
length, and from twenty-five to one hundred and 



A NEW ENTERPRISE. . 233 

thirty in breadth. The principal towns of Cuba, at 
that time, were Havana on the north and San- 
tiago on the south. Havana was fortified by three 
strong forts. There were many other small and 
flourishing settlements scattered along the extended 
coast. There were ten thousand families in Havana, 
and its commerce was immense. 

Captain Morgan had, in the course of two 
months, assembled in his retired harbor a fleet of 
twelve vessels, large and small, with over eight hun- 
dred fighting men. He called a council of his officers 
' to decide as to the enterprise upon which they should 
embark. Several urged a midnight attack upon 
Havana. They said that there was immense wealth 
in the city, that it might be attacked by surprise, as 
no one suspected danger ; and that the city could 
be plundered before the inhabitants would have 
any time to organize for defence. 

Others affirmed that they were not strong enough 
for so great an achievement ; that they needed at 
least fifteen hundred men to attempt the capture 
of a city of fifty thousand inhabitants. After much 
discussion it was decided to attack a flourishing 
inland town of Cuba, called Puerto Principe. It 
was situated a few leagues from the southern shore, 
and was utterly unprepared for such an attack as the 
pirates could bring against it. One of the pirates 



234 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

was familiar with the place and with all of its ap- 
proaches. He said that the town had never been 
sacked, and consequently was very rich. 

The whole fleet speedily set sail, and ran along 
the southern shore of Cuba toward the doomed 
town. The nearest available landing - place, for 
Principe, was at a bay called St. Mary's. Here, in 
the night, a Spanish prisoner, on board one of the 
ships, secretly let himself down into the dark water, 
and, at the imminent danger of being devoured by 
sharks, swam ashore. He hastened through the 
mule-paths of the forest to Principe, with the tid- 
ings of the terrible danger impending over the town. 

The inhabitants were thrown into an awful state 
of consternation. They knew full well that they had 
as much to dread from the pirates as from so many 
fiends from the bottomless pit. Men, women, and 
children were running in all directions to convey away 
and hide their treasures. 

All these Spanish towns had a governor appointed 
over them by the king. The governor summoned 
all the able-bodied men he could, and armed the 
slaves, and placed his little force in ambush along 
the route which he supposed that the pirates must 
of necessity traverse. He had also the immense 
trees of the dense tropical forest felled across the 
path, and other obstructions thrown in the way, to 



SACK OF PUERTO PRINCIPE. 235 

retard their march. But Morgan, as he approached 
these impediments, cut a new road with great diffi- 
culty through the woods, and thus escaped falling 
into the ambuscades. 

Morgan had left but a small guard to keep the 
fleet. Nearly eight hundred men were on the march 
with him. The pirates advanced in three divisions, 
with beating of drums, flying banners, and an osten- 
tatious display of military array. The town was in 
the centre of a smooth plain. The governor had 
retreated from his ambush, and, as the pirates ap- 
proached, stood before the town at the head of a 
troop of horsemen. Morgan formed his men in a 
semicircle, and marched down upon them. 

Both parties fought with desperation. The 
greatly outnumbering pirates soon shot down the 
governor, and so many of his soldiers, that the re- 
mainder attempted , to escape to the woods. They 
were hotly pursued, and most of them were killed. 
The battle, with the skirmishing, lasted nearly four 
hours. 

The pirates, having encountered but little loss, 
entered the town. Still, as they marched through 
the narrow streets which were ever found in these 
old Spanish towns, many of the inhabitants contin- 
ued a brave resistance. They fired upon the pirates 
from the windows of their stone houses, and hurled 



236 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

down heavy articles of furniture upon their heads 
from the roofs. Morgan had it loudly proclaimed 
that if they continued this resistance he would lay 
the whole town in ashes, and put every man, woman, 
and child to the sword. 

The Spaniards, hoping that by submission they 
might save their own lives and their houses from 
conflagration, threw down their arms and raised the 
white flag. There were several large stone churches 
in the place. The demoniac pirates drove the 
whole population, men, women, and children, into 
these churches, and imprisoned them there. They 
then commenced their system of plunder and wan- 
ton destruction. Every house and by-place, and the 
region all around, were searched. The night was 
rendered hideous by their drunken orgies. There 
was scarcely a conceivable crime of which these 
wretches were not guilty. They were fiends of the 
foulest dye, with no pity. Their outrages cannot 
be described. Even the imagination of most read- 
ers cannot conceive of the crimes they perpetrated. 

They either forgot the captives they had 
crowded into the churches or intentionally left them 
to starve. No provision whatever was made for 
their wants, and they were not furnished with any 
food. The piteous moans of women and children 



HORRIBLE ATROCITIES. 237 

touched not their hearts. Large numbers perished 
in the lingering agonies of starvation. 

Disappointed in the amount of treasure they 
found, they began to put their prisoners to the tor- 
ture, men, young girls, and even little children, to ex- 
tort from them the confession of where riches were 
secreted. While perpetrating atrocities which can- 
not be named, a man was captured who had letters 
from the governor of Santiago to some of the lead- 
ing inhabitants. In these documents the governor 
wrote : ■ • 

" Do not be in too much haste to ransom your 
town or persons from the pirates. Put them off as 
long as you can, with excuses and delays. In a 
short time I will certainly come to your aid." 

This alarmed Morgan. He feared that the gov- 
ernor of Santiago might rally a sufficient force perhaps 
to seize his ships, perhaps to cut off his retreat. He 
ordered his men immediately to march, as rapidly as 
possible, to their fleet, with all the plunder they had 
gathered. He also made renewed efforts, by all the 
energies of torture, to wrest from the wretched in- 
habitants the treasure which he supposed they had 
hidden. Those who had nothing to reveal, had 
their nerves lacerated and their bones crushed to 
force a confession of that which did not exist. He 
compelled his. captives to drive all the cattle to the 



238 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

bay, kill them and salt them, and convey the barrels 
to his ships. 

A quarrel arose between two of the pirates. One 
challenged the other to a duel. The party conse- 
quently went ashore in the boats. As they drew 
near the appointed spot, one of the two, treacher- 
ously approaching the other from behind, ran him 
through the back with his sword, and he fell dead. 
Morgan, who had just committed crimes which 
should cause the foul fiend himself to blush, said* that 
it was not just and honorable to kill a comrade thus 
treacherously. He therefore, with the assent of the 
whole demoniac gang, put the offender in irons and 
hung him. 

The fleet speedily set sail for a distant island, 
where they were to divide their ill-gotten plunder. 
Here they were greatly disappointed in the amount 
which they had taken. It was all estimated at but 
fifty thousand dollars. This was a small sum to be 
divided among so many greedy claimants. This 
being known, it excited a general commotion. 
Many of the pirates owed debts in Jamaica, which 
they were anxious honorably to pay. 

Some of the gang were so dissatisfied that they 
left, with a part of the vessels, to cruise on their 
own account. Morgan soon inspired those who re- 
mained with his own indomitable energy. In a few 



A BOLD UNDERTAKING. 239 

days he gathered a fleet of nine sail, manned by 
four hundred and seventy-five pirates. Morgan 
told them that he had formed a plan which would 
enrich them all. It was, however, necessary to keep 
it a profound secret. If any one should turn traitor 
and reveal it, the plan might be frustrated. They 
must therefore, for the present, trust in him and im- 
plicitly follow his directions. He had already in- 
spired them with such confidence in his sagacity, 
zeal, and courage, that, without a murmur, they 
yielded to these demands. 

The whole fleet set sail for the continent, and, in 
a few days, arrived off the coast of Costa Rica. 
Then Morgan assembled the captains of all the ves- 
sels in his cabin, and informed them of his plan, 
which they, were to communicate to their several 
crews. 

" I intend," said Morgan, " to attack and plun- 
der the city of Puerto Velo. I am resolved to sack 
the whole city. Not a single corner shall escape my 
vigilance. Large as the city is, the enterprise can- 
not fail to succeed. We shall strike the people 
entirely by surprise ; for I have kept my plan an 
entire secret, and they cannot possibly know of our 
coming." 

Some of the captains were alarmed in view of so 
bold an undertaking. They said : 



240 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

" Puerto Velo is the largest Spanish city in the 
New World excepting Havana and Carthagena. It 
contains a population of between two and three 
thousand, and has a garrison of three hundred sol- 
diers. It has two forts, which are deemed impreg- 
nable. These forts guard the entry to the harbor, so 
that no ship or boat can pass without permission. 
We have not a sufficient number of men to assault 
so strong a place." 

Morgan replied : " If we are few in numbers, we 
are bold in heart. The fewer we are the greater 
will be each man's share of the plunder." 

This last consideration had great weight with the 
pirates. The number engaged in the sack of Puerto 
Principe was so great, that each one murmured at 
the meagre share he received. Morgan was very 
familiar with all this region, and was thoroughly 
acquainted with the avenues to the city. In the 
dusk of the evening he ran his little fleet into a soli- 
tary harbor, called Naos, about thirty miles from 
Puerto Velo. There was a river, flowing into the 
harbor from the west, threading a dense, tangled, 
almost uninhabited wilderness. Leaving their ships, 
at anchor, under guard of a few men, the pirates, 
"armed to the teeth," in crowded boats and canoes, 
ascended the river until, at midnight, they reached a 
point but a few miles distant from the city. They 



ATTACKS PUERTO VELO. 24 I 

then landed and rapidly marched through a solitary 
Indian trail, overshadowed by the gloom of a dense 
tropical forest, until they came within sight of the 
lights gleaming from the battlements of the forts. 

On the main avenue to the city, not far from the 
gate, they came upon a solitary sentry, pacing his 
beat. Four men crept cautiously forward in the 
darkness, seized him, gagged him, and brought him 
a prisoner to Morgan. The pirate questioned his 
captive minutely, respecting the troops in the city, 
and the means for defence. The trembling man was 
threatened with death by the most horrible tortures, 
should it be found that he had in the slightest de- 
gree deceived them. Having gained this import- 
ant information, they advanced upon the city. 

The march of a mile brought them to the main 
fort, or Castle, as it was called. The morning had 
not yet dawned. In the darkness they surrounded 
it so completely that no one could either go in or 
out. Morgan then sent the sentinel, whom he had 
captured, into the fort, with a demand for its imme- 
diate surrender. 

" If you yield at once," said the message of the 
pirate, " your lives shall be spared. But if there be 
the least resistance, or any delay, I will cut to pieces 
every individual within the fort. Not one shall 
escape." 

11 



242 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

The commandant of the castle heeded not the 
threat, but opened fire upon his foes. The report 
of his guns roused the city. The governor, as speed- 
ily as possible, rallied all his forces and made such 
preparation as he could for defence. The slumber- 
ing garrison, attacked so utterly by surprise, were 
speedily overpowered. The pirates, breaking down 
the gates, rushed in, and soon gained possession of 
the works. The castle was but feebly prepared to 
repel an asault from the land side. 

Morgan wished to strike a blow which should 
appal the whole city. The magazine was abund- 
antly stored with powder. There was a room by its 
side, into which Morgan drove all his prisoners. 
Barring them in,, he laid a slow match, applied the 
torch, and with his gang retired. There were a few 
moments of appalling silence. Then came a roar as 
of ten thousand thunders. The. very earth shook 
beneath the terrific convulsion. There seemed to 
be a volcanic eruption of forked flame, rocks, earth, 
guns, and mangled limbs, and the castle disappear- 
ed. Every one of its inmates perished beneath its 
ruins. 

The consternation in the city was terrible. 
There were runnings to and fro, cries of anguish 
from mothers and maidens, while some were seeking 
to conceal their treasures by throwing them into the 



DESPERATE RESISTANCE. 243 

wells or hastily burying them in the cellars and the 
fields. In the frenzy of the hour the governor found 
his attempts to rally the citizens utterly in vain. 
With a few soldiers he threw himself into the second 
and only remaining castle. The little band here 
assembled, knowing that no mercy could be expected 
from the pirates, resolved to make as many of them 
bite the dust as possible, before they themselves 
should fall. They therefore opened an incessant and 
well-directed fire upon their assailants. 

Near by there was a cloister, where there were 
priests and nuns. The Spaniards regarded these 
religious orders with superstitious reverence. Mor- 
gan seized them all as prisoners. He ordered his 
carpenters immediately to make a number of scaling- 
ladders, so broad that four men could ascend them 
abreast. He then compelled the ecclesiastics and 
the nuns to carry the ladders and place them upon 
the walls of the fort. The armed soldiers followed 
closely behind, shielded by their bodies. 

The governor believed that the life of every 
Spaniard would be sacrificed should they be taken. 
And he thought it better for both priests and nuns 
that they should die outright than that they should 
be left in the hands of the pirates. He therefore 
opened a vigorous fire upon the approaching assail- 
ants, notwithstanding the rampart of living bodies 



244 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

they had so infamously placed before them. The 
unhappy inhabitants of the cloister cried out pite- 
ously to the governor, imploring him to surrender 
the castle and thus spare their lives. 

But the governor steeled his heart against their 
appeal. He fought with desperation. Many of the 
priests and nuns were shot down. But the pirates, 
in overpowering numbers, rushed on. They reached 
the top of the wall. They threw down fire-balls 
and hand-grenades upon the despairing defenders. 
When many had perished they leaped down, sword 
in hand, amidst smoke and flame, and mercilessly 
slaughtered all the survivors. 

The heroic governor fought to the last. His 
wife and children, weeping bitterly and upon their 
knees, entreated him to yield, hoping that thus his 
life might be spared. 

" No ! " he exclaimed, " never. I had rather 
die like a soldier than be hanged like a coward." 

Covered with wounds, he was at length cut 
down, and his gory, mangled body was left uncared 
for. The castle was taken. The soldiers were de- 
stroyed. The city was at the mercy of the captors. 
All the surviving inhabitants of the town, who had 
not escaped into the woods, were driven into the 
castle. Then the pirates commenced a scene of 
carousal which pandemonium could not outrival. 



RAPINE AND PLUNDER. 245 

The nuns and all the mothers and maidens were at 
their mercy. A veil must be cast over their horrid 
deeds. When satiated with drunkenness, and every 
conceivable excess, they commenced plundering the 
city. 



CHAPTER XV. 

The Capture of Puerto Veto, and its Results. 

The Torture. — Sickness and Misery. — Measures of the Governor of 
Panama. — The Ambuscade. — Awful Defeat of the Spaniards. — 
Ferocity of the Pirates. — Strange Correspondence.— Exchange of 
Courtesies. — Return to Cuba, and Division of the Spoil. — Wild 
Orgies at Jamaica. — Complicity of the British Government with 
the Pirates. — The New Enterprise. — Arrival of the Oxford. — De- 
struction of the Cerf Volant. — Rendezvous at Samona. 

THE wretched citizens of the captured city of 
Puerto Velo were exposed to every species of tor- 
ture to force from them the discovery of where their 
riches were concealed. Many of them had no 
knowledge they could give of any hidden treasure. 
Day after day the most horrid scenes of cruelty 
were enacted. Multitudes of men an'd women died 
under the torture. For fifteen days 'the pirates 
remained amidst the ruins they had created. 

But in this world blows are seldom given without 
others being received in return. Sickness came, 
with languor, pain, and groans of agony. The death- 
bed is cheerless enough even when surrounded with 
all the attentions of sympathy and love and tender 



THE CAPTURE OF PUERTO VELO. 247 

care. To these wretched men, in their homelessness 
and their terrible guilt, death must indeed have 
come as the king of terrors. A painful, pestilential 
disease seized them. Surrounded by the oaths and 
the clamor of demoniac men they passed to the seat 
of final judgment. 

In consequence of the unhealthiness of the cli- 
mate at Puerto Velo, many of the merchants, who 
had their warehouses at that port, resided in the 
far more attractive city of Panama, but a few leagues 
distant, on the Pacific coast. The governor of the 
province also resided at Panama. Morgan sent two 
prisoners to the city to say to the residents there 
that unless one hundred thousand dollars were sent 
to him he would lay Puerto Velo in ashes. 

But the governor had already heard of the arrival 
of the pirates. He had collected an armed force, 
and was on the march to cut off their retreat. In 
the mean time the vessels were brought up into the 
harbor and were laden with the plunder. The ram- 
parts were repaired, the guns remounted, and all 
things put in readiness to repel an attack. Every 
day many were put to the torture. Some died 
under the terrible infliction. Many were maimed 
for life. 

Hearing that the governor was on the march to 
attack them, Morgan placed himself at the head of a 



248 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

hundred ot his most determined men, and marched 
forward to meet the foe. Every man was armed, in 
pirate fashion, with a musket, several pistols in his 
belt, and a keen-edged sabre. At a few leagues 
from the city they came to a narrow defile, along 
whose circuitous path but two could march abreast. 
The tangled thicket was on each side, with gigantic 
trees, and huge rocks buried in the luxuriant verdure 
of the tropics. Here a whole army might lie in im- 
penetrable concealment. 

And here Morgan, with great skill, placed his 
^troops. Every man took a position where he could 
have perfect command of some portion of the track. 
With his hatchet he cut a loop-hole through the 
dense growth of shrubs and interlacing vines. Thus, 
while quite invisible, he could take deliberate aim. 
They were to wait in perfect silence until the wind- 
ing defile was filled with unsuspecting troops. Then, 
at a signal from Morgan, every man was to fire. 
And every man was to take such aim as to be sure 
that his bullet would strike down his victim. 

The Spaniards, four or five hundred in num- 
ber, soon appeared in rapid march. Anticipating a 
bloody struggle with the pirates behind their ram- 
parts, they had no thought that they would leave 
such vantage-ground to march forth to the encoun- 
ter. Their only fear was that the pirates might 



THE CAPTURE OF PUERTO VELO. 249 

rush to their ships and thus escape. Hurrying 
heedlessly along, they had filled the labyrinthine 
trail, when the deadly signal was given. One hun- 
dred muskets were instantaneously exploded. One 
hundred bullets were sent on their fatal mission. 
One hundred Spaniards were either struck down in 
instantaneous death or wounded. 

There was no time for thought ; no time to rally. 
The case was clear. The defeat was entire and 
remediless. Rapidly the pirates reloaded and kept 
up a continuous fire. The Spaniards discharged 
their muskets at random, hitting no one. Pell-mell, 
in awful confusion, they turned, and struggling 
against their own numbers, rushed, as best they 
could, from the defile. . The narrow path was strewed 
with the dying and the dead. With a shattered 
and bleeding remnant the governor returned to 
Panama for reinforcements. 

Morgan and his men, wishing that their deeds 
should strike terror all around, emerged from their 
covert, dispatched the wounded with pistol-shots or 
sabre-thrusts, searched the pockets of the dead, and, 
leaving their bodies unburied, returned in triumph 
to their comrades. 

In triumph ! But what a triumph ! They had 
now been fifteen days in Puerto Velo. Famine and 
disease were assailing them with more cruel attacks 



250 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

than sabre or pistol can inflict. Recklessly they had 
wasted their provisions. They could not eat their 
gold or their silver, or the spoil which they had stored 
away in the holds of their ships. They had already 
consumed the mules and the horses. Their blood, 
inflamed by debaucheries and almost boiling beneath 
a meridian sun, produced the most loathsome and 
painful disorders. The slightest wound would fester 
and cause death. No wonder they were reckless. 
Better far to die than to live in such misery. This 
was the triumph to which the pirate Morgan returned. 

The Spanish prisoners suffered still more than 
their captors. Crowded together in apartments 
whose awful impurity tainted the air; deprived of 
every comfort ; witnessing intense sufferings which 
they could not alleviate, but which they were com- 
pelled to share ; despondent, starving, dying, there 
was for them no relief but such as death gives. 

The Spanish governor, who had shown such utter 
want of military ability in marching into the ambus- 
cade, was as self-conceited and boastful as he was 
incompetent. Notwithstanding his ignominious re- 
pulse, he sent to Morgan the following message : 

" If you do not immediately withdraw, with yout 
ships, from Porto Velo, I will march upon you with 
a resistless force. You shall receive no quarter. 
Every man shall be put to death." 



THE CAPTURE OF PUERTO VELO. 25 I 

Morgan sent back the reply, " If you do not im- 
mediately send me one hundred and eighty thousand 
dollars in gold, I will lay every building in Puerto 
Velo in ashes ; I will blow up the forts ; and I will 
put every captive I have to the sword, man, woman, 
and child." 

The pride of the governor would not allow him 
to purchase the retreat of the pirates. He sent to 
Carthagena imploring that some ships might be sent 
from there to block up the pirates in the river. But 
they had no sufficient force to make the attempt. 
The citizens were very anxious to have the money 
sent. But the governor kept them in suspense in 
hopes of gaining time. 

" He was deaf and obdurate to all the entreaties 
of the citizens, who sent to inform him that the 
pirates were not men, but devils, and that they 
fought with such fury that the Spanish officers had 
stabbed themselves in very despair, at seeing a sup- 
posed impregnable fortress taken by a handful of 
people, when it should have held out against twice 
that number." * 

The governor was astonished at their exploits. 
Four hundred men had captured a city which he 
said any general in Europe would have found it 

* The Monarchs of the Main, by George W. Thornbury, Esq., 
vol. ii. p. 35. 



252 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

necessary to blockade in due form. It is indicative 
of the almost inconceivable state of public opinion 
in those times, that the governor of Panama, Don 
Juan Perez de Guzman, who had acquired consider- 
able renown for his bravery in the wars in Flan- 
ders, should have sent a courteous message to Mor- 
gan, expressive of his astonishmeut and admiration 
in view of his heroic achievement, and begging Mor- 
gan to send him a pattern of the arms with which 
he had gained so wonderful a victory. The scornful 
pirate sent a common musket and a handful of bul- 
lets to the governor, with the following sarcastic 
message : 

" I beg your excellency to accept these as a small 
pattern of the arms with which I have taken Puerto 
Velo. Your excellency need not trouble yourself 
to return them. In the course of a twelvemonth I 
will visit Panama in person, and will fetch them away 
myself." 

The governor replied : " I return the weapons 
you sent me, and thank, you for the loan of them. 
It is a pity that a man of so much courage is not in 
the service of a great and good prince. I hope that 
Captain Morgan will not trouble himself to come 
and see me at Panama. Should he do so, he surely 
will not fare so well as he has at Puerto Velo." 

It is very difficult to credit the statement made 



THE CAPTURE OF PUERTO VELO. 253 

by Thornbury that " the envoy, having delivered 
this message, so chivalrous in its tone, presented 
Morgan with a beautiful gold ring, set with a costly . 
emerald, as a remembrance of his master Don 
Guzman, who had already supplied the English 
chief with fresh provisions." * 

Puerto Velo was left to its fate. The pirates 
left scarcely anything behind but the tiles and the 
paving-stones. Many of the best- guns Morgan car- 
ried off. Of the rest, all which he could not burst 
he "spiked. He then set sail. Behind him were 
smouldering ruins, pestilence, poverty, misery, and 
death. 

Eight days' sail brought the fleet to Cuba. Upon 
that vast and sparsely inhabited island there were 
many solitary harbors and coves where the silence 
of the wilderness reigned. Into one of these lonely 
spots Morgan ran his fleet. Here he divided the 
spoil. It was indeed a beggarly pittance which they 
had obtained as the fruit of so much toil, suffering, 
and crime. In coin or bullion they counted but two 
hundred and sixty thousand dollars. There was a 
large amount of silks and other merchandise, which 
'was not deemed of much value. 

The division was amicably made, and they spread 
their sails to return to Jamaica, there to squander, 

* Monarchs of the Main, vol. i. p. 38. 



254 SIR tlENRY MORGAN. 

in a few days of insane excess, all that they had 
gained through weary months of danger, toil, suffer- 
ing, and crime. The entrance of a richly laden 
piratic fleet into the harbor of Kingston was an 
occasion of public rejoicing. The gamblers, the 
courtezans, the rumsellers were all overjoyed. 
Even the children expected to see the strange vis- 
itors scatter their doubloons through the streets to 
be scrambled for. 

We are told that every door was open to 
them, and that, for a whole week, all loudly praised 
their generosity and their courage. At the end of a 
month they had squandered all, and every door was 
shut in their faces. Morgan was a drunkard as well 
as a robber. He spent his gains as infamously and 
as speedily as did the rest. Shrewder men than 
he emptied his purse at the gambling-table. The 
Delilahs of Jamaica speedily transferred his jewels 
to their necks. But one short month had passed 
away when Morgan and all his crew, utterly impov- 
erished, were eager for another expedition. 

Undismayed by the past, this bold adventurer 
planned an enterprise of such magnitude that he 
boasted that, at its close, both he and his men might ' 
be able to retire, if they wished, with a sufficiency 
for the rest of their days. 

A rendezvous was appointed at De la Vaca or 



THE CAPTURE OF PUERTO VELO. 255 

Cow Island, on the south side of the Island of His- 
paniola. This would be easily accessible by the 
pirates, both French and English, ever swaggering 
through the streets of Tortuga. Again the despera- 
does rushed to his banner. They came in boats and 
in small vessels and by land. Men enough were 
found to furnish the adventurer with funds. 

A large English ship, which mounted thirty-six 
guns, entered the harbor of Kingston, Jamaica, from 
New England. This ship, the Oxford, carried a 
crew of three hundred men. It was on a buccaneer- 
ing cruise against Spanish commerce. Oexemelin 
says that the ship actually belonged to the King of 
England, Charles II. He had fitted it out at his 
own expense, and the captain was employed in his 
service. What authority he had for this astonishing 
assertion we know not. But it is certain that the 
governor at Jamaica felt at liberty to send this ship 
to join Morgan's expedition. And when we subse- 
quently find Charles II. conferring the honor of knight- 
hood on this desperate marauder, and appointing 
him governor of Jamaica, the report receives much 
confirmation. 

The harbor at Isle de la Vaca was a fine one. A 
large French ship, the Cerf Volant, on a trading 
excursion, entered the port. The ship was well 
armed, mounting twenty-four iron guns and twelve 



256 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

guns of brass. The captain and crew, disappointed 
in the results of trade, were disposed to try their 
luck as buccaneers. Morgan, anxious to secure so 
powerful a ship, urged them to join his expedition. 
But the French officers would not accede to his 
terms. 

The Frenchman was about to weigh anchor and 
return to Tortuga. Several of his crew, who were 
English sailors, had deserted him, and had been 
received on board Morgan's ships. Through them 
Morgan learned that the captain of the Gerf Volant, 
being out of provisions, had stopped an English 
vessel, taken from her sundry articles of food, for 
which he had paid, not in coin, for he had "none 
on hand, but in bills of exchange cashable at 
Jamaica. 

Morgan, who was seeking for some pretext undei 
which he might seize the French ship, decided to 
consider this an act of piracy. He invited the of 
fleers of the Volant to dine with him, on board the 
splendid ship which the governor of Jamaica had 
sent him. Unsuspicious of treachery ; the captain 
and his officers all came. While in the cabin, drink- 
ing their wine, Morgan rose and denounced them 
as pirates who had robbed an English vessel, and 
declared them to be his prisoners. At the same 
moment a band oLarmed men came in and put them 



THE CAPTURE OF PUERTO VELO. 257 

in irons. They could make no resistance. He then 
took possession of the ship. 

Soon after this he called a council of his officers 
to decide upon their first expedition. They met in 
the cabin of the Volant. Several of the French who 
had refused to join Morgan were prisoners in the 
hold. After much deliberation they decided first to 
repair to the Island of Savona, a few leagues south- 
east of San Domingo. A flotilla of merchant-ships, 
under convoy, was daily looked for from Spain. It 
was to be expected that, during this long voyage, 
some vessels would get separated from the rest. 
These stragglers they hoped to cut off. 

Having settled this question, the desperadoes 
commenced drinking and carousing. A scene of 
uproar ensued with the intermingling of drunken 
songs and unintelligible blasphemies. While the 
officers were thus carousing in the cabin, the sailors, 
four hundred in number, were engaged in equally 
wild orgies in their quarters of the ship. As the 
toasts were drained, broadsides were discharged, by 
men reeling in drunkenness around their smoking 
guns. Some were cursing, some fighting, some sleep- 
ing in deathly stupor. 

The magazine, amply stored with powder, was 
near the bows of the boat. Powder was carelessly 
scattered over the decks. Suddenly there was a 



258 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

terrific explosion. The whole ship seemed lifted 
into the air, as by some volcanic power. Dense 
volumes of sulphurous smoke, pierced with forked 
flame, enveloped the scene, shutting it out from the 
view of all around. Then there were seen, ejected 
hundreds of feet into the air, massive timbers, and 
ponderous cannon, and the mangled bodies of three 
hundred and fifty men. But thirty of the crew es- 
caped. 

The officers' cabin, far in the stern of the boat, 
escaped the force of the explosion. Though the 
revellers there were terrified, stunned, almost smoth- 
ered with smoke, and many of them severely wound- 
ed, they escaped with their lives. 

Such was the end of the Cerf Volant. This only 
did Morgan gain by his treachery. " Morgan," says 
Esquemeling, " had captured the ship. And God 
only could take it from him. And God did so." 

For eight days the bodies of the dead were seen 
floating upon the waters of the bay. Morgan sent 
out boats to collect these bodies, not for burial, but 
for plunder. The pockets were searched. The 
clothing, when good, was stripped off. The heavy 
gold rings, which nearly all the sailors wore, were 
taken, and then the bodies were abandoned to the 
sharks and the carrion birds. 

Morgan, upon a review of his forces, found that 



THE CAPTURE OF PUERTO VELO. 259 

he had fifteen vessels, large and small, and eight hun- 
dred and sixty men. With these he set sail for 
Savona. Head winds impeded their progress. 
Three weeks had elapsed ere they reached the 
eastern extremity of Hispaniola. Eight hundred 
hungry men consume a vast amount of food each 
day. Their provisions ran short. They chanced to 
meet an English ship which had a superfluity for 
sale. Thus recruited, they pressed on, in a long 
straggling line, until eight of the ships reached a 
harbor called Ocoa, on the southern coast of the 
great island. Here he cast anchor to wait the 
arrival of the rest of the fleet. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Expedition to Maracaibo. 

The Delay at Ocoa. — Hunting Excursions. — The Repulse. — Cities of 
Venezuela. — The Plan of Morgan. — Suggestions of Pierre Pi- 
card. — Sailing of the Expedition. — They Touch at Oruba. — 
Traverse Venezuela. — Enter Lake Maracaibo. — Capture of the 
Fort. — The City Abandoned. — Atrocities of the Pirates. 

At Ocoa, on the Island of Hispaniola, the pirates 
remained several days waiting for the arrival of the 
other vessels, which were unaccountably lagging be- 
hind. Every morning Morgan sent a party of eight 
men, from each ship, upon the island as hunters, in 
search of game. He also sent a body of armed men 
to protect them from any attack by the Spaniards. 
Though there were many Spaniards upon the island, 
they did not feel strong enough to assail so great a 
force as the pirates could muster. They, however, 
sent to the city of San Domingo for three or four 
hundred men, to kill or drive away all the cattle and 
game around the Bay of Ocoa. They hoped thus 
to starve out the buccaneers, and compel them to 
depart. 

Goaded by hunger, a band of fifty of Morgan's 



THE EXPEDITION TO MARACAIBO. 261 

men ventured far into the woods. The Spaniards, 
who were watching them, drew them into an ambus- 
cade. The pirates were outnumbered and surround- 
ed. With cries of " Kill, kill," the Spaniards opened 
a sudden and deadly fire. But these desperadoes, 
accustomed to every kind of danger, could not be 
thrown into a panic. Instantly they formed them- 
selves into a hollow square, and keeping a rolling 
fire from the four sides, slowly retreated to their 
ships. Many fell by the way, dead or wounded. 
Many of the Spaniards were also slain. 

The next day, Morgan, rendered furious by the 
discomfiture, landed himself, at the head of two hun- 
dred men, to take dire revenge upon his foes. But 
no foe was to be met. Finding his search useless, 
he gave vent to his rage in burning all the dwell- 
ings he encountered, from which the Spaniards 
had fled. 

Still the seven missing ships did not appear. 
After waiting a few days more, he decided to delay 
no longer. Spreading his sails, he steered his course 
for the Island of Savona. But none of the missing 
vessels were there. While waiting, he sent several 
boats, with crews amounting to one hundred and 
fifty well-armed men, to plunder several of the small 
towns upon the San Domingo coast. But in the 
capital city and all along the shore scouts were on the 



262 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

watch. Sentinels were placed upon every headland. 
The moment the boats appeared in sight, signals 
were given. At every point where a landing was 
attempted such energetic resistance was presented, 
that the pirates were compelled to retreat. 

They returned to Morgan with this discouraging 
report. He was in a towering rage, and with sneers 
and curses denounced them as cowardly poltroons. 
As no longer delay could be safely indulged in, and 
as the missing vessels did not arrive, he made 
another review of his fleet and army, and found that 
he had eight vessels of various sizes and about five 
hundred men. 

Upon the coast of Venezuela there was a large 
and opulent city, called Caraccas. It was the capital 
of the province of Venezuela, and had been founded 
nearly one hundred years before, in 1567, by the 
Spanish Government. It was a well-built and beauti- 
ful city, delightfully situated, in the enjoyment of a 
salubrious climate, and enriched by extensive com- 
merce. Near by were Valencia, Barcelona, and Cu- 
mana, all important commercial ports. The latter 
place was the oldest city on the continent of South 
America. It was established in 1523. The plunder 
of these four cities would indeed enrich the maraud- 
ers. And Morgan, in command of fifteen vessels, 
and with an army of fifteen hundred men did not 



THE EXPEDITION TO MARACAIBO. 263 

doubt that he could effect their capture, one by one, 
if he could strike them entirely by surprise. But it 
was folly to attempt it with eight vessels and five 
hundred men. 

There was a Frenchman in command of one of 
Morgan's ships, by the name of Pierre Picard. This 
man, several years before, had been the pilot of Lo- 
lonois's fleet, in his capture and destruction of Mara- 
caibo and Gibraltar, of which expedition we have 
already given an account. During the intervening 
years those places had, in a very considerable degree, 
recovered from their disasters. Again they pre- 
sented riches sufficient to entice the buccaneers. 

Picard was a remarkable man, of great resources. 
He was a bold soldier and a skilful sailor. Fami- 
liar with all these waters, fearless and unscrupulous, 
with French plausibility of address, and speaking 
the English language with volubility and correctness, 
he gained great influence over Morgan. 

A council of the officers was called. He proposed 
an attack upon Maracaibo and Gibraltar. A chart 
was presented exhibiting the course to be run, the 
channels to be threaded, the forces to be encoun- 
tered, and the means of overcoming them. 

His proposition was received with general ac- 
claim, and the fleet weighed anchor. After several 
days' sail to the south, they reached an island called 



264 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

Oruba. It was inhabited only by natives. They 
had a large stock of sheep, lambs, goats, and kids. 
Here the pirates cast anchor, to take in water and 
provisions. For once these marauders seemed to 
come to the conclusion that honesty was more 
politic than thievery, and that it was easier to 
buy a goat with a skein of thread, than to steal 
it, and thus rouse the hostility of the whole na- 
tive population. They remained here twenty-four 
hours, acting as nearly like honest men as such a 
gang of thieves, drunkards, and desperadoes could 
do. They filled their water-casks, and laid in quite 
a store of provisions, which they bought, though 
without money and almost without price. 

They were now within a day's sail of Maracaibo. 
They were anxious that the natives should not know 
their destination, lest in some way they might give 
the alarm. Therefore the anchors were raised and 
the sails spread in the night. When the morning 
dawned the islanders looked in vain for the fleet. 

During the day the ships came in sight of the 
cluster of islands which are found at the entrance 
of the Lake of Maracaibo. A fair breeze from the 
north had swept them rapidly through the Gulf of 
Venezuela. Just within the narrows which connected 
the gulf with the lake, there was a mountainous island 
called Vigilia. Upon one of its eminences there was 



THE EXPEDITION TO MARACAIBO. 265 

a watch-tower erected, where sentinels were sta- 
tioned, ever on the lookout to give warning of the 
approach of any suspicious craft. 

Just as the fleet reached this point the wind died 
away into a perfect calm. Though Morgan made 
every endeavor to cast anchor out of sight of the 
watch-tower, the vigilant eyes of the sentinels de- 
tected him. The alarm was instantly sent up to the 
city. Twelve hours passed away before there was a 
breath of wind to ripple the crystal surface of the 
lake. It was then four o'clock in the morning. All 
this time had been granted the Spaniards to prepare 
for their defence. 

At a little distance beyond Vigilia there was a 
narrow channel to be threaded, which was defended 
by, a fort. Not deeming it safe to expose his vessels 
to the heavy guns of the Spaniards, and knowing 
that the works would be weak on the land side, he 
manned his boats, and marching through the woods, 
struck his foes in the rear. The garrison had made 
arrangements for the most desperate resistance. 
They had burned all the huts around the walls of 
the fort, and had removed everything which could 
afford the assailants any shelter. 

The defenders of the works numbered probably 
not more than thirty or forty men. Nearly five 
hundred reckless desperadoes emerged from the 



266 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

woods for the assault. They were all veterans, and 
all sharpshooters. Not a hand could be exposed 
but a bullet would strike it. Such a storm of balls 
were thrown with unerring aim in at every embra- 
sure, that the guns could not be worked. 

When the pirates, in their large numbers, first 
appeared emerging from the forest, the fort opened 
a fire so intense and continuous that it resembled 
the crater of a small volcano in most rapid eruption. 
But the pirates, who could return ten bullets for 
every one received, and who were careful that every 
bullet should accomplish its mission, soon caused 
the fire to slacken. Still the fight continued for 
many hours, till night came, with no apparent advan 
tage on either side. 

With the darkness the conflict ceased. Morgan 
sent a party cautiously forward to reconnoitre. No 
light was to be seen. No sound was to be heard. 
Solitude and silence reigned. The fort was deserted. 
With shouts the pirates rushed forward to take pos- 
session of the works. The loud voice of Morgan 
arrested them. He was as cautious as he was brave. 
A party of engineers was dispatched, led by Morgan 
himself, to search lest there might be lighted fuses 
leading to the magazine. Morgan was the. first to 
enter., His quick eye discerned the gleam of a fuse 
slowly creeping toward the magazine, where three 



THE EXPEDITION TO MARACAIBO. 267 

thousand pounds of gunpowder were stored. It 
was instantly trampled out. 

But for this caution, five hundred pirates would 
have swarmed all over the fort. There would have 
been an earthquake roar, a volcanic upheaval, and 
not one of those five hundred desperadoes would 
have survived to tell the story of the retribution 
which had so suddenly befallen them. 

The fort was a small but strong redoubt, or out- 
work, built of stone, circular in form, with a massive 
wall thirty feet high. It was only accessible by an 
iron ladder which could be let down from a guard- 
room. It mounted fourteen cannons, of eight, twelve, 
and fourteen pound calibre. There was also found 
a quantity of fire-pots, hand-grenades, pikes, and 
muskets. 

The pirates had no time to lose. It was need- 
ful to press forward as rapidly as possible, for every 
hour the inhabitants of the city might be adding to 
their defences. They blew up a portion of the wall ; 
spiked the cannon, and threw them over the ram- 
parts ; burned the gun-carriages, and destroyed all 
the material of war which they could not carry away 
with them. 

The way was now open for the passage of the 
fleet up the lake to the very entrance of the harbor. 
With the earliest dawn the fleet spread its sails, leav- 



I 

2<58 SIR HENRY MORGAN. ' 

ing behind the smouldering ruins of the fort. The 
breeze was light, the shoals many, the channel intri- 
cate. It was not until the next day that they came 
within sight of the city. There was still .another 
fort to be passed at the very mouth of the port. 
Morgan stood upon his quarter-deck, spy-glass in 
hand. He could see the Spanish cavaliers at work 
on the ramparts, and had reason to expect a very 
desperate resistance. Again he decided not to ex- 
pose his ships to the cannonade which the heavy 
guns of the fort could bring to bear upon them. 

Casting anchor out of gun-shot, he disembarked 
his forces in the boats. They were ordered not to 
meddle with the fort, but to march in two divisions 
through the woods, and attack the town at points 
which the artillery of the fort could not protect. 
The guns of the fleet were brought to bear upon all 
the adjacent thickets, that no foe might find there a 
lurking-place. 

The landing was effected without opposition. 
The march, through the narrow mule-paths, was 
undisputed. The town was reached. But there 
was no foe there ; no inhabitant there. All had 
fled. Warned by the awful fate which had be- 
fallen Maracaibo, but a few years before, when 
sacked by the pirates under Lolonois, the citizens, 
men, women, and children, had fled utterly panic- 



THE EXPEDITION TO MARACAIBO. 269 

stricken. It is easy for a man of any ordinary cour- 
age to brave death in the performance of duty. 
But who can endure demoniac torture ? Who can 
bear the idea of seeing his wife, his daughter, his 
child exposed to every indignity, every cruelty 
which demons in human form can devise. 

Maracaibo was emptied of its population. All 
had sought refuge in the forest, with speed to which 
terror lent wings. The aged, the sick had fled. Even 
the dying were carried away. And it is stated with- 
out denial that the ship, the Oxford, which took the 
lead in this enterprise, belonged to Charles II., King 
of England. This royal buccaneer had equipped it, 
had manned it, and was to share in the spoil. And 
he rewarded the demoniac leader of this demoniac 
gang with the honors of a baronetcy ; and appointed 
him governor over one of the most important colo- 
nies of Great Britain. Such scenes were enacted 
only two hundred years ago. Surely the world has 
made some progress. 

The fugitives had taken with them everything 
they could carry. There were no carriage roads in 
those parts. But there were many narrow mule- 
paths, leading in various directions. On pack-mules 
and horses much treasure had been removed. Two 
days had elapsed since the alarm had resounded 
through the streets, " The pirates are coming." 



270 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

The houses were empty. The doors were left 
wide open. The chambers were stripped of every- 
thing valuable. Nearly all the gold and silver and 
jewels had of course disappeared. There were 
some houses of much elegance in the place, sump- 
tuously furnished. The pirates rushed through the 
streets, searching for the richest palaces for their 
barracks. The churches they wantonly defiled and 
converted into prison-houses. Not a vessel or a 
boat was left in the port. All had been used, by 
the terrified fugitives, to escape far away upon the 
wide lake beyond. 

Morgan, chagrined at the loss of so much antici- 
pated treasure, instantly dispatched one hundred 
fleet-footed men to pursue the encumbered and 
heavily laden refugees, along all the trails. Scarcely 
any provisions could be found in the town. The 
fugitives had taken the wise precaution to destroy 
what they could not carry away. The little fort 
which guarded the harbor was merely a half-moon 
rampart facing the water, and mounting but four 
cannon. These works the Spaniards had of course 
abandoned. 

The men who had been dispatched in pursuit of 
the Spaniards returned the next evening. They 
brought with them thirty prisoners, and fifty mules 
laden with valuables. The prisoners were feeble 



THE EXPEDITION TO MARACAIBO. 27 1 

men and women of the poorest class. The owners 
of the richly laden mules, seeing the approach of the 
pirates, had abandoned all, and outstripped the pur- 
suers in their flight. The unhappy captives were 
put to the torture, but nothing could be wrested 
from them. 

This Morgan, subsequently Sir Henry Morgan, 
governor of Jamaica, suspended his prisoners by the 
beard ; hung them up horizontally by cords bound 
around their toes and thumbs ; placed burning 
matches between their fingers ; scourged them ; 
twisted cords around their heads till their eyes burst 
from their sockets, and perpetrated other enormities 
too horrible to be mentioned. 

" Thus," writes Esquemeling, " all sort of inhu- 
man cruelties were executed upon these innocent 
people. Those who would not confess, or who had 
nothing to declare, died under the hands of those 
tyrannical men. These tortures and racks continued 
for the space of three whole weeks ; in which time 
they ceased not to send out daily parties of men 
to seek for more people to torment and rob : they 
never returned home without booty and new riches." 

In one of these excursions they captured two 
negro slaves, who were faint for loss of food. They 
were both put to the torture, to compel them to 
reveal where their master was concealed. One, the 



272 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

elder of the two, endured the horrible torment with- 
out a word, and almost without a groan, till death 
came to his release. The other captive, a young 
man, just emerging from boyhood, bore up bravely 
until the agony became utterly unendurable. He 
then offered to lead them to his master. The 
wealthy Spaniard was soon taken, and with him the 
exultant pirates seized thirty thousand dollars in 
silver. 

In such days of disaster and woe, families, flying 
into the wilderness, would cling together. Morgan 
had gradually captured one hundred of the most 
prominent families. He had also acquired an unex- 
pectedly large amount of plunder, in silver, gold, 
bullion, and rich merchandise. 

Captain Picard was very exultant in view of the 
success of the enterprise which he had suggested 
and guided. He now urged that they should ad- 
vance upon the city of Gibraltar. It will be remem- 
bered that this place was at the head of the lake, 
about one hundred miles south from Maracaibo. 
Morgan embarked his prisoners and all of his plun- 
der on board his fleet and spread his sails for this 
new enterprise. 



\ 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Adventures on the Shores of Lake Maracaibo. 

Preparations for the Defence of Gibraltar. — The Hidden Ships. — 
The Hiding-place of the Governor and the Women. — Disasters 
and Failure. — Capture of the Spanish Ships. — The Retreat Com- 
menced. — Peril of the Pirates. — Singular Correspondence. — 
Strength of the Spanish Armament. — The Public Conference of 
the Pirates. — The Naval Battle. — The Fire-Ship. — Wonderful 
Achievement of the Pirates. 

Before Morgan weighed anchor for his expedi- 
tion to Gibraltar, he sent two Spanish prisoners to 
the city to say that if they made a peaceable surren- 
der of the place, without attempting to conceal or 
carry off their valuables, their lives should be spared. 
But if any resistance were offered, the city should be 
laid in ashes and every individual put to the sword. 

But ample time had been given to the citizens of 

Gibraltar to prepare for a vigorous defence. The 

garrison from Maracaibo had also fled to her forts. 

The troops were landed a mile and a half from the 

town, and marched through the woods to attack the 

foe in the rear. The Spaniards had anticipated this 

movement and were prepared to meet it. Still they 
12* 



274 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

were baffled by the strategy of Morgan. Instead of 
advancing by the regular route, he employed a large 
party of sappers and miners to cut a new path 
through the woods. Thus he approached the city 
without exposing his men to storm ramparts brist- 
ling with artillery and musketry. 

The Spaniards had no time to throw up new in- 
trenchments. It was evident, even to the most un- 
intelligent soldier, that all was lost. Their hearts 
sank within them, and soldiers and citizens fled with 
the utmost precipitation. So general was the flight 
that the pirates, when they entered the streets of 
Gibraltar, found but one single man there, and he 
was a semi-idiot. Even that weak creature they tor- 
tured. The poor wretch cried out : 

" Do not torture me any more, and I will show 
you my riches." 

The pirates thought, or pretended to think, that 
he was some rich person assuming the disguise of 
poverty and semi-insanity. He led them to a mis- 
erable hovel containing only a few earthern pots. 
He dug up, from under the hearth, three dollars 
which he had buried there. Still they affirmed that 
he was a grandee in disguise, and commenced tortur- 
ing him anew. In his agony he cried out : 

" In the name of Jesus ; in the name of the Vir- 
gin Mary, what will you do with me, Englishmen? I 



ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MARACAIBO. 275 

am a poor man. I live on alms. I sleep in the hos- 
pital." 

He died under their hands. They dragged him 
aside and covered him with a few shovelfuls of 
earth. Some of the slaves, who had been inhumanly- 
treated by their masters, now took revenge, and re- 
vealed their hiding-places to the pirates. A poor 
lame peasant, with his two daughters, was brought 
in. Appalled by the terrors of the rack, he prom- 
ised to lead them through the woods to a retreat 
where several of the Spaniards were concealed. But 
the Spaniards, vigilantly on the watch, fled. The 
pirates, in the rage of their disappointment, hung 
the poor peasant. What became of his daughters 
we are not informed. 

But I cannot torture my readers with a narrative 
of these horrors. They were dreadful beyond all 
powers of description. It seems inexplicable that 
God could have permitted such awful deeds. 

Parties, thoroughly armed, were sent out to 
explore the region for many miles around. One of 
the slaves promised to conduct Captain Morgan to a 
river flowing into the lake, where there was a ship and 
four large boats richly laden with merchandise, taken 
both from Gibraltar and from Maracaibo. He also 
promised to lead a party to the place where the 
governor of Gibraltar was concealed, with most of the 



276 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

females of the city. The capture of the governor, for 
whom a great ransom could be expected, to save 
him from death by torture, and the capture of the 
females, were deemed matters of the greatest moment 
by these demoniac pirates. 

Morgan himself took a party of two hundred 
men, with the slave as a guide, and set out on an 
.expedition to capture the governor and the women. 
At the same time he dispatched another party of 
one hundred men in two large boats, to seize the 
ships. They were to coast along the shores of the 
solitary lake until they reached the mouth of the 
river where the vessels of the refugees were con- 
cealed. 

The governor was on the alert. His scouts 
watched all the approaches to his retreat. It re- 
quired a very painful and laborious march of .two 
days for the pirates to reach the spot where the fugi- 
tives were intrenched. The governor, with much 
sagacity, had selected a large island in a river. The 
region was difficult of approach, leading through the 
roughest paths of tangled; thickets and bogs. God 
seemed to frown upon the pirates. The rain fell in 
floods upon them. They were drenched to the skin. 
Many mountain torrents they were compelled to 
ford, wading up to the waist through the foaming 
water. They sank to the hips in the softened 



ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MARACAIBO. 277 

marshes. Their shoes were torn from their feet. 
Their clothes were rent and their skin pierced by the 
thorns. 

When they reached the river they found the cur- 
rent rapid and the channel deep. There were no 
boats with which to cross. These desperate men 
were provided for every emergence. They soon 
constructed canoes and crossed the stream. But in 
the hurried passage many of the canoes were 
swamped and the men lost. Upon reaching the 
island they found that the governor had taken 
refuge on a densely wooded and craggy mountain. 
The path which led to the summit, winding through 
the thickets and the immense rocks, was so narrow 
that it could only be mounted in single file. 

In fording the rivers and wading through the 
bogs, and breasting the rain and the gale, all of the 
ammunition of the pirates had been injured, and 
much of it utterly spoiled. The whole party was in 
such a condition, that Esquemeling writes: 

" If the Spaniards, in that juncture of time, had 
had but a troop of fifty men, well armed with pikes 
or spears, they might have entirely destroyed the 
pirates, without any possible resistance on their 
side." 

The governor was not aware of this. Prudently 
he remained upon the defensive. He had several of 



278 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

the soldiers of the garrison with him, and an ample 
supply of ammunition. His men were admirably 
posted behind rocks and trees, so that had the pirates 
persisted in their endeavor to ascend the mountain, 
every man must have perished. And it is doubtful 
whether they could have inflicted even a wound 
upon their unseen assailants; 

Morgan perceived that the case was hopeless. 
Discouraged and maddened he commenced a retreat. 
Twelve days passed from the time they commenced 
their enterprise before Morgan, with his diminished 
and shattered party, returned to Gibraltar. They 
had, however, captured on the way quite a number 
of fugitives whom they had found scattered through 
the woods, and also a considerable amount of money. 
They took a sort of fiendish pleasure, on their re- 
turn, in seeing the aged women and the children 
swept away by the foaming mountain torrents, which 
they forded. They returned to Gibraltar exaspe- 
rated, and prepared to inflict severer torture upon all 
their captives. 

The party sent to take the vessels were a little 
more successful. The Spaniards had unloaded the 
vessels and conveyed to unknown distances much of 
their cargoes. Hearing of the approach of the 
pirates, they fled precipitately, leaving behind them 
all which they had not removed, or which they could 



ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MARACAIBO. 279 

not immediately destroy. Still there were many 
bales of goods left in the vessels and on the shore. 
These the pirates seized and carried back to their 
ships. 

When the pirates had been five weeks in Gi- 
braltar, plundering, torturing, carousing, the failure 
of provisions rendered it necessary for them to de- 
part. But first they sent some of their prisoners 
back into the woods to find their hidden compan- 
ions, and to say to them that unless they sent Mor- 
gan, as a ransom for the city, five thousand dollars, 
in gold or silver, he would lay every building of the 
city in ashes. Those ruined men went forth on this 
sad mission. After searching every nook and corner 
for a long time, they came back to state that they 
could not find anybody. The terrified Spaniards 
had fled far beyond the reach of a day's explora- 
tion. 

They said, however, that if Morgan would have a 
little patience and give them eight days, they would 
endeavor to raise the money. The pirate replied : 

" I am going to Maracaibo. I shall take with me 
eight of your most prominent citizens, whom I hold 
as captives. I shall regard them as hostages for the 
-payment of the ransom. If within eight days the 
money is paid, they will be set at liberty. If the 
money is not paid, they must suffer the penalty." 



28o SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

And what was that penalty ? Death ; and prob- 
ably death by torture. Morgan began to feel a little 
solicitude about his retreat. In five weeks the 
Spaniards must have had time to assemble troops 
from various parts of the province, to repair the for- 
tifications of Maracaibo, and to throw very serious 
obstacles in the way of his passing through the 
straits which connected Lake Maracaibo with the 
Gulf of Venezuela. 

Influenced by this consideration, they moved 
with haste. Weighing their anchors and spreading 
their sails, with their fleet laden with plunder, they 
now directed their course toward Maracaibo. Baf- 
fled by light or contrary winds, four days passed 
before they reached the city. Here they found the 
same silence and desolation which they had left 
behind them. There was but one person in the 
place — a poor old man, sick and almost bed-ridden. 

He gave them the alarming intelligence that 
three Spanish men-of-war were cruising off the 
head of the lake, watching their return. They had 
also repaired the fort which Morgan had partially 
destroyed, had mounted the guns anew, garrisoned 
the works with experienced artillerymen, and placed 
all things in posture for a vigorous defence. Over 
the redoubt the flag of Castile was proudly waving. 

Morgan sent one of his swiftest boats down the 



ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MARACAIBO. 28 1 

lake to reconnoitre the state of affairs. The boat 
came back the next day, confirming the statements. 
The ships were large and evidently well manned, as 
well as powerfully armed. The largest mounted forty- 
nine guns ; the next, thirty-eight guns of different 
calibre ; and the smallest, sixteen guns of large 
calibre, and eight of less. Morgan could not hope 
to contend successfully against forces so much supe- 
rior to his ow-n. The commander of this fleet was 
Don Alonzo Espinosa. He was vice-admiral of the 
West-Indian fleet. His little squadron had been 
sent to those seas to protect Spanish commerce, 
and to put to the sword every pirate he could take. 
The pirates were thrown into a state of great con- 
sternation. Their largest ship carried but fourteen 
guns. There seemed no possible escape for them by 
sea or by land. 

Whatever might have been Morgan's secret feel- 
ing, he assumed an air of the utmost confidence. 
With audacity most extraordinary, considering the 
circumstances, he sent a Spanish prisoner to Ad- 
miral Espinosa, with the message that unless he 
immediately forwarded to him twenty-eight thou- 
sand dollars, in silver or gold, he would apply the 
torch to Maracaibo, and every building should be 
consumed. 

The reply of the admiral was dated " On board 



282 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

the royal ship Magdalen, lying at anchor at the entry 
of Lake Maracaibo, this 24th day of April, 1669." 
In it Espinosa wrote : 

" My intention is to dispute your passage out of 
the lake, and to pursue you wherever you may go. 
But if you will surrender all that you have taken, 
with all your prisoners, I will let you pass without 
molestation. But if you make any resistance, I will 
send my boats up to Maracaibo, and you shall be 
utterly destroyed. Every man shall be put to the 
sword. This is my fixed determination. I have good 
soldiers, who desire nothing more earnestly than ,to 
revenge on you, and your people, the outrages and 
cruelties you have committed on the Spanish na- 
tion." 

Morgan, upon the reception of this letter, sum- 
moned all bis men to meet in the market-place 
of Maracaibo. He submitted the question to them 
whether they would avail themselves of this offer, 
and thus escape with their lives, or run the risk of a 
battle with the Spanish squadron. The vote was 
unanimous that they would rather shed the last drop 
of blood they had, than give up the treasure they 
had obtained at the expense of so much danger and 
suffering. One of the pirates stepped forward, and 
said : . . 

" Captain Morgan, I will undertake, with twelve 



ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MARACAIBO. 283 

men, to destroy the largest of those ships. I will 
convert the large vessel we captured up the river 
into a fire-ship. We will fill her full of the most 
combustible matter. Then we will place images of 
men around, and sham guns, made of logs of wood, 
at the port-holes, and unfurl the English flag. The 
crew of the admiral's ship, not doubting that we are 
bearing down to give them battle, will not think of 
attempting to escape. We will run directly upon 
the Magdalen, throw our grappling-irons aboard, and, 
when both ships are instantly wrapped in flames, 
will, in the confusion, take to our boats, and reach 
some vessel near by." 

The proposition was accepted with general 
acclaim. Still Morgan decided to make one more 
effort to escape without the peril and inevitable loss 
of a battle. Even should it utterly fail, he would 
gain time to prepare for the attack by the fire-ship. 
He therefore sent two of his prisoners to Espinosa, 
with this announcement : 

" If the vice-admiral will pledge his honor that I 
may retire without being attacked, I will abandon 
Maracaibo, without burning the town or exacting 
any ransom. I will also set at liberty all the Spanish 
prisoners I have taken. The hostages I hold from 
Gibraltar shall be sent home, without exacting the 
ransom which was promised." The admiral replied : 



284 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

" I will listen to no terms of accommodation differ- 
ent from those which I have proposed. If the pris- 
oners and the booty are not voluntarily surrendered 
to me within two days, I will advance to your de- 
struction." 

In the mean time all hands were at work con- 
structing the fire-ship. All the pitch, tar, and brim- 
stone in the city were collected. Dried palm-leaves 
were gathered, in vast numbers, and smeared over 
with tar. Packages, containing several pounds of 
powder, were scattered through the loose mass. 
New port-holes were cut to let the air in to fan the 
flames. Many images of men were stationed along 
the decks, with caps on their heads and armed with 
muskets and pikes. The ship was so disguised that 
no one would doubt that it was a war-ship. From 
such the admiral of the Spanish fleet would surely 
make no effort to escape. 

All things being ready, Morgan exacted an oath 
from every man that he would fight to the last drop 
of his blood ; that he would neither give nor take 
quarter. The Spanish fleet had passed through the 
strait to the entrance of the lake, and was riding 
at anchor just above the fort, which it will be remem- 
bered they had occupied, strengthened, and strongly 
garrisoned. Thus the pirates, before they could 
escape into the Gulf of Venezuela, must not only 



ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MARACAIBO. 285 

destroy the fleet, but also sail by the fort exposed to 
the terrible cannonade of its heavy ordnance. 

On the evening of April 30th, 1669, Morgan 
spread his sails, and ran down the lake until he 
came in sight of the foe. Darkness was then com- 
ing on, and he cast anchor. The morning of the 
first of May dawned cloudless, over those vast soli- 
tudes of land and water, where a few adventurers 
from a distance of nearly ten thousand miles had 
met to crimson the waves with their blood, and to 
cause forest and lake and mountain to resound with 
the thunders of their demoniac fightings. 

With the first gleam of light in the east, Morgan's 
fleet weighed its anchors and spread its sails. A 
fresh breeze from the south swelled their canvas. 
The fire-ship, with its wooden men and wooden 
guns, and which was prepared in an instant to flame 
into a volcano, bore down upon the Magdalen. 
Promptly the crew cleared the decks for action. 
Little did they dream of the foe whose resistless 
fury they were to encounter. 

The fire-ship ran with a crash against the Span- 
ish frigate. The boat of escape was ready with the 
men at the oars. The torch was applied at several 
places to make certainty doubly certain. The boat 
pushed off with rapid strokes, and scarcely one sin- 
gle moment elapsed before both ships were envel- 



286 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

oped in densest smoke and flashing, consuming 
flame. 

In an instant it was seen by all that the great 
achievement was accomplished ; that the majestic 
man-of-war, in all its pride and strength, was doomed 
to immediate destruction. No escape was possible. 
No resistance could be of the slightest avail. Not 
a boat could be launched. There was no time for 
thought even. Many of the sailors were instantly 
burned to a crisp as the forked flames encircled 
among them, wrapping them in its cruel embrace. 
All, who could, plunged into the sea. Many were 
drowned. A few strong swimmers reached the 
other vessels and were saved. Among these was 
the Admiral Espinosa. 

The pirates gazed upon the awful spectacle with 
shouts of exultation. They had " sworn to give no 
quarter. The drowning wretches presented but at- 
tractive targets for their sharpshooters. Boats put 
off from several of their nearer vessels to knock 
them in the head. 

The second Spanish ship in size, which was 
called the St. Louis, mounted, as we have said, 
thirty-eight guns in all. The crew consisted of two 
hundred sailors. Seeing the utter destruction of the 
flagship, and that they were exposed to be attacked 
by the whole force of the pirates, they ran back 



ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MARACAIBO. 287 

beneath the guns of the fort. To prevent the ship 
from falling into the hands of the pirates they ran 
her ashore, scuttled her, and took refuge behind the 
intrenchments. 

The third ship was called the Marquesas. It car- 
ried, as we have mentioned, twenty-four guns, large 
and small, and a crew of one hundred and fifty men. 
This vessel was so surrounded by the pirates that 
she could not escape. Her capture was effected 
with scarcely any conflict. Infamous as was the 
cause in which these pirates were engaged, it is 
difficult to withhold our admiration from the skill 
and the courage with which the great achievement 
was accomplished. 

In less than one hour these Spanish war-ships, 
armed with the best Spanish ordnance, and manned 
by over six hundred combatants, were utterly de- 
stroyed or taken by the pirates, now but about three 
hundred in number, and whose largest ship mounted 
but fourteen guns. It is one of the most extraordi- 
nary feats in naval warfare. One of the historians 
of the time says : '• The fire-ship fell upon the 
Spaniard, and clung to its sides like a wildcat on 
an elephant." 

But still the pirates were by no means out of 
their difficulties. Their ships were all in Lake Ma- 
racaibo. A narrow and serpentine strait was to be 



288 ' SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

threaded before they could enter the Gulf of Vene- 
zuela, by which alone they could gain access to the 
ocean. Here again the genius of Morgan came to 
the rescue. In. the first place he collected all the 
prisoners he could, men, women, and children, and 
had them firmly secured. His plan was to compel 
the admiral to let him pass the fort unmolested, by 
threatening otherwise to put them all to death. 

Among his captives there was a pilot of one of 
the Spanish ships. Upon being closely questioned, 
he made the following statement : 

" We were sent by orders from the Supreme Coun- 
cil of Spain, with instructions to exterminate the 
English pirates. The Spanish court has made many 
complaints to the King of England of the hostilities 
committed here by the English. The king has ever 
replied that he had never given any commissions 
for such hostilities ; that these were individual acts 
which the Government could not control, and for 
which they were not responsible. 

" Hereupon the King of Spain resolved to protect 
his subjects and punish the perpetrators of these 
outrages. He fitted a fleet of six ships. Three of 
these, after an, extended cruise, hearing of the attack 
upon Maracaibo, arrived here. The vice-admiral 
took possession of the fort, remounted its guns, add- 



ON THE SHORES OF LAKE MARACAIBO. 289 

ing several of large calibre, and added a hundred 
men to its original garrison whom he recalled." 

Morgan returned to Maracaibo to plan for his 
escape. The Marquesas, which he had captured, was 
larger than any vessel of his own, and more heavily 
armed. He refitted this, making it his flagship. 
The one he had before occupied was intrusted to one 
of his captains. 
13 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

A New Expedition Planned. 

The Threat to Espinosa. — Adroit Stratagem. — Wonderful Escape. 
— The Storm. — Revelry at Jamaica. — History of Hispaniola. — 
Plan of a New Expedition. — The Foraging Ships. — Morgan's 
Administrative Energies. — Return of the Foragers. — Rendezvous 
at Cape Tiburon. — Magnitude and Armament of the Fleet. — 
Preparations to Sail. 

MORGAN, in the self-assurance of triumph, sent 
word to the governor of Maracaibo, that unless he 
sent him, within eight days, five hundred beef cattle, 
the city of Maracaibo should be reduced to smoul- 
dering ruins. They were sent in within two days. 
All hands were employed in butchering, salting, 
and storing away the meat in preparation for 
sea. 

Returning with his fleet to the mouth of the 
lake, Morgan sent word to Admiral Espinosa that he 
had, on board his ships, between two and three hun- 
dred prisoners, including one hundred and fifty sail- 
ors of the Spanish fleet, who were captured in the 
Marquesas. He demanded a free passage, promising, 
if that were granted him, he would send all his pris- 



A NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED. 29 1 

oners unharmed ashore, as soon as his fleet was safe 
on the other side of the fort. 

If this free passage were not granted him, he 
declared that he would force his way through ; and 
that he would bind all his prisoners to the rigging, 
that they might be the most exposed to the shot 
from the fort ; and that having passed by, everyone 
who survived the cannonade should be killed and 
thrown overboard. The prisoners, well instructed 
in the cruelty and the inflexible will of this demo- 
niac pirate, sent the most pathetic appeals to the 
admiral to save them from this dreadful fate. He, 
influenced by the pride of the soldier rather than by 
human sympathies, unfeelingly replied : 

" If you had been as loyal to the king in hinder- 
ing the entrance of these pirates as I shall be in hin- 
dering their going out, you would never have caused 
these troubles either to yourselves or to our whole 
nation, which hath suffered so much through your 
pusillanimity. I shall not grant your request ; but 
shall endeavor, according to my duty, to maintain 
that respect which is due to my king." 

When Morgan heard of this reply he said : " Very 
well ; if the admiral will not give me permission to 
pass, I will find a way of passing without his permis- 
sion." 

Before attempting to run through the strait, all 



292 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

the pirates landed for a division of the booty. In 
making an inventory of their effects it was found that 
they had, in gold, silver, and jewels, two hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. They had a still larger sum 
than this in the vast amount of merchandise which 
they had gathered from all the ships and store- 
houses of the two cities. They had also a large 
number of slaves, who brought cash prices in all the 
ports of the West Indies. 

The escape was effected by the following inge- 
nious stratagem. Morgan filled his boats with men, 
and rowed beneath the boughs which hung densely 
over the banks of the river, until he arrived at a con- 
cealed spot, where he pretended to land them. He 
took care, however, so to conduct the movement that 
the Spaniards in the fort should catch glimpses of 
it. The landing, however, was merely feigned. The 
men concealed themselves in the bottom of the 
boats, and were rowed back to the ships. Not one 
was left on the shore. In this way, by repeated 
excursions with the boats, apparently several hun- 
dred men were disembarked. 

The admiral, well aware of the ferocious courage 
of the pirates, and not doubting that they would 
make a desperate assault upon the fort on the land 
side, immediately, and in the greatest haste, re- 
moved their eighteen-pounders to command the 



A NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED. 293 

approaches by the land. In this way the sea-coast 
was left almost defenceless. 

The ensuing night the moon rose full-orbed over 
the silent waters of the lake. A fresh breeze sprang 
up from the south. Providence seemed to be favor- 
ing these desperate men. The tide was also "in 
their favor. And there was always a gentle current 
flowing- through the narrow strait from the lake into 
the gulf. 

Thus, with their path illumined by the moon's 
brilliant rays, and aided by wind, tide, and current, 
the pirates spread their sails, and, almost as by magic, 
glided by the fort. Every precaution was taken to 
protect the crews. No attempt was made to return 
the fire of the Spaniards. Most of the crews were 
placed in the holds of the ships. Only enough were 
left on deck for the purpose of navigation. The 
Spaniards, astonished, bewildered, and with but few 
guns at their command, fired hastily, furiously, and 
with very inaccurate aim at the ships so rapidly pass- 
ing beyond their grasp. But little damage was 
done, and but few men were killed. 

We are not informed whether Morgan carried 
out his threat of exposing his prisoners to the can- 
nonade by binding them to the rigging. What be- 
came of the one hundred and fifty Spanish sailors, is 
not known. They were probably all put to death. 



294 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

The prisoners from Maracaibo he sent ashore. Those 
from Gibraltar he carried away with him, and proba- 
bly relieved himself of the incumbrance by throwing 
them all into the sea. As Morgan again set sail, his 
crews raised three cheers of triumph, and discharged 
eight heavy guns, loaded with balls, against the fort, 
as his parting salute. 

But the very next day, heaven's frown seemed 
to succeed heaven's smile. One of the most terrible 
of tropical tornadoes assailed the fleet. All were in 
despair. The sailors threw themselves upon their 
knees, and called upon the Virgin and all the saints 
to help them. The gleaming lightning seemed to be 
the symbol of God's wrath, and the pealing thunder 
sounded like His angry voice. 

Esquemeling, who accompanied this expedition, 
and to whose pen we are mainly indebted for an ac- 
count of its events, says that the ship which bore 
him lost both anchors and mainsail. It was with 
the utmost difficulty they kept the ship afloat, work- 
ing at the pumps for weary hours. The thunder he 
represents as deafening, and the mountain billows, 
rushing by, threatened every moment to ingulf 
them. 

" Indeed," he writes, " though worn out with 
fatigue and toil, we could not make up our minds to 
close our eyes to that blessed light which we might 



A NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED. 295 

soon lose sight of forever. No hope of safety re- 
mained. The storm had lasted four days, and 
there was no probability of its termination. On the 
one side we saw rocks, on which our vessel threat- 
ened every instant to drive. Before us were the In- 
dians, from whom we could hope for no mercy. 
Behind us were the Spaniards, hungering for re- 
venge." 

At length the storm ceased. The fleet put into 
a harbor, in the Bay of Venezuela, to repair dam- 
ages. There seems to be but little reformatory 
power in punishment. These wretched men were 
not made better by the chastisement which they 
had received. All unmindful of their prayers to 
Virgin and saint, while some were at work on the 
ships, others formed themselves into bands to ravage 
the country far and wide, plundering all the Spanish 
and Indian villages within their reach, and inflicting 
the most atrocious outrages upon the inhabitants. 
It is very clear that there is no hope for this lost 
world, unless it may be found in that change in the 
heart of man which the religion of Jesus Christ in- 
culcates. " The mind is its own place." The pirates 
after the storm were the same men as before. 

Morgan, having refitted his ships, and having 
added very considerably to his amount of plunder, 
again spread his sails for Kingston, the capital of 



296 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

Jamaica. He reached that port in safety, and was 
very cordially welcomed by the inhabitants and 
the British authorities there. They seemed to re- 
gard him as one of the heroes of the age, worthy 
of all honor. The sentiments of the English gen- 
erally, at that time, in reference to these exploits, 
may be inferred from the following : 

In a book published in London, in the year 1684, 
and which now lies before me, a glowing account is 
given of these adventures. The book had then at- 
tained to a second edition. The title-page says : 

" A True Account of the most remarkable As- 
saults, committed of late years upon the Coasts of 
the West Indies, by the Buccaneers of Jamaica and 
Tortuga, wherein are contained more especially the 
unparalleled Exploits of Sir Henry Morgan, our Eng- 
lish Jamaican Hero, who sacked Puerto Velo, burnt 
Panama, etc." 

At Jamaica new scenes of rioting and profligacy 
were enacted. The money soon passed from the 
hands of the pirates to the sharpers in liquor-shops, 
gambling-houses, and dancing-halls, who were eager 
to grasp it. Morgan's eulogistic biographer writes : 

" Morgan, encouraged by success, soon deter- 
mined on fresh enterprises. On arriving at Jamaica, 
he found many of his officers and soldiers already 
reduced to their former indigency by their vices and 



A NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED. 297 

debaucheries. Hence they perpetually importuned 
him for new exploits, thereby to get something to 
expend in wine and strumpets, as they had already 
done with what they got before. 

" Captain Morgan, willing to follow fortune's 
call, stopped the mouths of many inhabitants of 
Jamaica, who were creditors to his men for large 
sums, with the hopes and promises of greater 
achievements than ever, in a new expedition". This 
done, he could easily levy men for any enterprise. 
His name was so famous through all those islands, 
that it alone would bring him in more men than he 
could well employ." 

Morgan scattered his proclamations far and wide 
through all the English and French ports on the 
various islands* He wrote particularly to the gov- 
ernor of Tortuga, soliciting his cooperation. The 
south side of this island was appointed as a rendez- 
vous, where Morgan, sailing from Jamaica, would 
meet the pirates of Tortuga who wished to join the 
expedition. -Another and general rendezvous was 
designated, for adventurers from all the islands, at 
Port Couillon, on the south side of Hispaniola. And 
here let me give a few explanatory words in refer- 
ence to this latter island. 

Columbus discovered this magnificent island on 

the 5th of December, 1495. It was called by the 
13* 



298 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

natives Hayti. Its population was estimated at 
one million. It was four hundred miles long, with 
a breadth of from forty to one hundred and fifty 
miles, covering an area of nearly thirty thousand 
square miles. Columbus called it Hispaniola, or 
Little Spain. He established a colony on the 
northern coast, which he called Isabella. His 
brother, Diego, was intrusted with its command. 
This was the first colony planted by the Europeans 
in the New World. 

In the year 1665, the French obtained possession 
of a large portion of the island, and gave it the 
name St. Domingo. This was about one hundred 
and seventy years after its discovery, and about 
five years before Morgan selected a bay on its 
southern coast as a rendezvous for his piratic fleet. 
It is in consequence of these changes that Hayti, 
Hispaniola, and St. Domingo frequently occupy so 
confused a relation in the public mind. 

Punctuality is an essential element of success 
alike in good and bad enterprises. With singular 
promptness, Morgan sailed into the harbor of Cou- 
illon, in a large ship which he called the Flying 
Stag. It was crowded with pirates, or buccaneers 
as they would perhaps prefer to have been called, 
whom he had taken from Tortuga. It was the 24th 
day of October, 1670. He found twenty-four ves- 



A NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED. 299 

sels already there, and sixteen hundred men. Almost 
every hour there were new arrivals of both ships and 
sailors. Morgan had selected for his flagship a large 
vessel, which mounted twenty-two guns. His arrival 
was greeted with shoutings, cannon-firing, flag-wav- 
ing, and the most boisterous drunken revelry. 

With energy and administrative ability charac- 
teristic of this very able and yet infamous man, he 
dispatched four vessels to the mainland, to cruise 
along the coast and plunder Spaniards and Indians 
of provisions, of corn, poultry, swine, and beeves, 
to victual his ships. They were also to sack such 
small towns as they were able to capture. All this 
was merely in preparation for the great enterprise 
before them. 

While the four vessels were absent on this for- 
aging expedition, Morgan kept his men busy careen- 
ing, rigging, and calking their vessels, so as to be 
ready, immediately upon the return of the foragers, 
to put to sea. The magnitude of the enterprise 
in which this arch -pirate was engaged may be 
inferred from the fact that wide regions were to be 
devastated, and several towns sacked, merely to 
gather provisions for his army. 

Hunters were sent into the woods of St. Do- 
mingo in search of game. All cattle and swine 
were considered fair booty, no matter to whom they 



300 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

might belong. Each hunting party had a certain 
region allotted to it. Portions of the crews were 
engaged in salting down provisions for the voyage. 
There were many swine roving through the woods. 
Frequently a hunting party would bring in as many 
as twenty or thirty men could carry. The most 
admirable discipline marked all these arrangements, 
over which Morgan presided. 

The expedition sent to the continent reached 
its destination in six days. Fortunately for the 
Spaniards, just as the ships arrived within sight of 
land, they were becalmed. This gave the Spaniards 
time to conceal their treasures and to throw up 
intrenchments. The little fleet was at anchor just 
off the mouth of the river De la Hacha. There was 
in the river a large ship from Carthagena, laden 
with corn. The vessel, with all its cargo, fell into 
the hands of the pirates. 

The next morning, just at break of day, a gentle 
breeze sprang up, and the ships ran in toward the 
shore. A landing of the men was effected, notwith- 
standing a valiant resistance by a small party of 
Spaniards. The pirates drove their foes from 
behind intrenchments which they had suddenly 
reared, and pursued them toward a strongly forti- 
fied town in the vicinity, called Rancheria. Here 
the Spaniards rallied again, and a desperate battle 



A NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED. 30 1 

ensued. Many fell on both sides, for the Spaniards 
were by no means cowards. But the pirates were 
the victors, though at a heavy loss. They drove their 
foes into the woods, and took possession of the town. 
Several of the Spaniards were captured. As usual, 
they were exposed to the most diabolical tortures to 
compel the confession of where they had concealed 
their goods. The pirates remained here fifteen 
days. During this time, they were actively 'em- 
ployed in taking captives and collecting booty. 
Just before their departure, they sent a number of 
prisoners to the fugitives dispersed through the 
woods, with the message that unless they sent, 
within a certain number of days, four thousand 
bushels of corn, they would destroy the town. The 
corn was sent in. The pirates sailed, greatly en- 
riched with booty, and with all their ships heavily 
freighted with provisions. 

They had been gone five weeks. Morgan began 
to despair of their return. The pirates had no con- 
fidence in each other. Morgan knew full well that 
if they had been triumphantly successful, amassing 
large quantities of gold and silver, they would pre- 
fer to go to some port where they could squander 
all their gains in every species of sensual indul- 
gence. He also knew that there were large towns, 
like Carthage'na and Santa Maria, in the region the 



302 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

ships were sent to plunder. There was no little 
danger that they might have been cut off by these 
combined garrisons, 

Great, therefore, was his joy when, from the 
lookout, the returning ships were discerned in the 
distance. The provisions were divided among the 
fleet. The other booty, of precious metals, jewels, 
and goods, was awarded to the plunderers. 

Morgan personally inspected every vessel. He 
then set sail for Cape Tiburon, at the west end of 
Hispaniola. This was a convenient spot to lay in 
wood and water. Here he was joined by several 
ships', which had been refitted at Jamaica to join 
the expedition. Morgan now found himself in com- 
mand of a fleet of thirty-seven vessels, manned by 
two thousand two hundred sailors. The admiral's 
ship mounted twenty-eight guns, large and small. 
Many of the others carried twenty, eighteen, and 
sixteen guns. The smallest vessel had four. He 
had an abundant supply of ammunition, of fire-balls, 
hand-grenades, and pots which, upon being broken, 
diffused an intolerable suffocating odor. 

The fleet was divided into two squadrons. The 
second squadron was placed under a vice-admiral. 
To every captain he gave a commission to practise 
every species of hostility against the Spanish nation. 
*'- You are to seize," he said, " their ships, wherever 



A NEW EXPEDITION PLANNED. 303 

you can, whether at sea or in harbor, just as if they 
were the open and declared enemies of the King of 
England, Charles II., my master." 

He assembled all the captains in his cabin to 
sign certain articles of agreement. It was stipulated 
that Morgan should have one hundredth part of all 
their booty. Every captain should draw the shares 
of eight men. The surgeons were to have two hun- 
dred dollars each, besides their regular share. The 
loss of both legs entitled one to an addition of fifteen 
hundred dollars ; both arms, eighteen hundred dol- 
lars ; one hand or one foot, six hundred dollars; an 
eye, one hundred dollars. Whoever should first 
pull down a Spanish flag, and raise the English in 
its stead, was to receive fifty dollars. 

For a little time, it was debated whether they 
should attack Carthagena, Vera Cruz, or Panama. 
The lot fell upon Panama. It was the richest of 
the three. Though this city was situated on the 
western or Pacific shores of the Isthmus, and though 
it would be necessary to leave their fleet in some 
harbor, and march for several days over an unknown 
country, still there would be no difficulty in finding 
guides, the Spaniards would be but poorly prepared 
for so unexpected an attack, and the amount of 
booty, particularly in gold and silver, wDuld be im- 
mense. Morgan proudly unfurled from his squadron 



304 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

the royal English flag. Upon the other squadron 
he spread to the breeze the blood-red banner of 
the pirate ; and, strange to say, upon that piratic 
banner he placed a white cross, the emblem of the 
religion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who 
came to this lost world proclaiming " Glory to God 
in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward 
men." 



CHAPTER XIX. 
Capture of St. Catherine and Chagres. 

The Defences at St. Catherine. — Morgan's Strategy. — The Midnight 
Storm. — Deplorable Condition of the Pirates. — The Summons 
to Surrender. — Disgraceful Conduct of the Spanish Commander. 
— The Advance to Chagres. — Incidents of the Battle. — The Un- 
expected Victory. — Measures of Morgan. 

On the 16th day of December, 1670, the piratic 
fleet weighed anchor from Cape Tiburon. They 
first directed their course to the recapture of the 
Island of St. Catherine upon the coast of Costa Rica. 
This island had become a penal colony, the Botany 
Bay, of Spain. The malefactors from all the Span- 
ish dominions in the West Indies were transported 
here. 

Four days' sail brought the fleet within sight of 
the island. The settlement was near the mouth of 
one of the rivers. Morgan sent forward one of his 
best sailing vessels to reconnoitre the defences. 
The river emptied into a large bay or harbor called 
the Grande Aguada. Upon the shores of this har- 
bor the town was beautifully situated, surrounded 
by massive and well-garrisoned forts. Several of 



306 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

Morgan's desperadoes had been there before. With 
his whole fleet he entered the harbor in the night- 
time. 

Guided by instinctive military ability, with his 
usual promptness he landed one thousand men. 
Instead of marching directly upon the batteries, a 
corps of able engineers, with their axes, cut a new 
path through the tangled forest to the residence of 
the governor. Here they found a small rampart 
which was abandoned. The Spaniards, not being 
able to cope with so large a force as Morgan led, 
had retired to a stronger position. The pirates pur- 
sued. Soon they came upon a massive fort so forti- 
fied with encircling batteries as to seem impregna- 
ble. As soon as the pirates arrived within gun-shot 
the Spaniards opened upon them so deadly a fire 
from their heavy guns, that they were compelled to 
retire beyond reach of the balls, and take a position 
upon the grass of the open fields. 

Night came. The pirates were weary and hun- 
gry. No food had been brought from the- ships. 
It was supposed that food would be found in abun- 
dance. But the Spaniards had destroyed all which 
they could not remove; and it took a very large 
quantity to satisfy the appetites of a thousand hun- 
gry men. Faint from hunger, they threw themselves 
unsheltered upon the grass to sleep. 



CAPTURE OF CHAGRES. 307 

At midnight a tropical tempest arose. The 
glare of the lightning and the crashing peals of 
thunder were terrific. The windows of heaven 
seemed to be opened, and the flood fell in sheets. 
The sailors had left the ships with no clothing but 
their trousers and a shirt. In one moment they 
were drenched. And yet, hour after hour, in black- 
est darkness, the deluge descended, smothering 
them with its volume and flooding the fields. Not- 
withstanding all their efforts, nearly all of their pow- 
der was injured, and much was utterly destroyed. 

In the morning, for an hour the rain ceased. They 
had just begun to flatter themselves that a pleasant 
day was opening upon them, when the clouds again 
gathered blackness, and the tempest assailed them 
with redoubled fury. It did seem as though they 
were exposed to the frown and the chastising blows 
of an indignant God. They found in the fields a 
poor old sick horse, " which was," writes Esqueme- 
ling, who was present, " both lean and full of scabs 
and blotches, with galled back and sides. This hor- 
rid animal they instantly killed and skinned, and di- 
vided into small pieces among themselves as far as 
it would reach ; for many could not obtain one mor- 
sel. This they roasted and devoured without either 
salt or bread, more like unto ravenous wolves than 
men." 



308 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

They were at that time, Esquemeling says, in so 
deplorable a condition that had the Spaniards fallen 
upon them with one hundred men they might have 
cut them all to pieces. The rain fell in such blind- 
ing torrents that the pirates could not even retreat. 
At noon there was another lull. Morgan, assuming 
an air of great boldness and confidence, sent a flag 
of truce to the governor, with the following sum- 
mons to surrender: 

" I solemnly swear unto you, that unless you im- 
mediately deliver your works, yourself, and all your 
men into my hands, I will put every one to the 
sword." 

The governor was appalled. A piratic fleet of 
thirty-seven vessels of war, manned by over two* 
thousand of the most fiend-like desperadoes earth 
could furnish, presented a force greater than the 
governor thought he could withstand. He sent 
back a request that two hours' time might be 
allowed him to deliberate with his officers, when he 
would return a decisive answer. At the appointed 
time he sent to Morgan the following humiliating 
proposal : 

" The governor is willing to surrender the island, 
as he has not sufficient force to repel the English 
fleet. But for the saving of his reputation and that 
of his officers, he begs that Captain Morgan would 



CAPTURE OF CHAGRES. 309 

attack him by night, with all his marine and land 
forces. The governor will feign an attempt to es- 
cape from one fort to another, when Captain Mor- 
gan's troops can intercept and capture him. There 
shall be a continued firing on both sides, but with- 
out bullets." 

To these terms, so degrading to the governor, 
Morgan rejoicingly acceded. Thus, from apparently 
hopeless defeat, his sagacity won a signal and blood- 
less victory. The sham fight took place according to 
the programme. That night there was a great and 
ridiculous roar of all the big guns in the fort and on 
the ships. Powder was burned freely. The white flag 
was raised by the governor, the surrender made, and 
the island, with all it contained, passed into the 
hands of the pirates. 

The buccaneers were half starved. Several days 
were spent in feasting. The island was well stocked 
with beef cattle, swine, and poultry. Recklessly they 
were destroyed. The houses were torn down to 
build their fires. Two thousand men, Jay day and 
by night, indulged in the wildest orgies of revelry. 
Many of the people of the settlement fled into the 
woods. But the pirates counted four hundred and 
fifty captives. The women, who were subject to 
every indignity, were imprisoned in a church. 

Morgan, upon inspecting the works, was aston- 



310 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

ished at their strength and at his own victory. The 
main fort, or castle as it was called, was very strong, 
built of stone, and surrounded by a wide ditch 
twenty feet deep. Heavy guns commanded the 
port. There were other supporting batteries which 
mounted nearly sixty guns. An immense amount 
of ammunition, including thirty thousand pounds 
of powder, were found in the fort. These were all 
transferred on board the ships. The guns were 
spiked, the gun-carriages burned, and the pirates, 
with shouts of victory, again spread their sails. 

Among the prisoners there were three despera- 
does, notorious robbers, who professed to be familiar 
with the route to Panama,- and with all the region 
around. Eagerly they joined in the expedition with 
the promise of sharing in the spoil. Esquemeling. 
speaking of the proposition made to these wretches 
by Morgan, says : 

" These propositions pleased the banditti very 
well. They readily accepted his proffers, promising 
to serve him very faithfully ; especially one of these 
three, who was the greatest rogue, thief, and assassin 
among them, and who deserved, for his crimes, to 
be broken alive upon the wheel. This wicked fellow 
had a great ascendency over the other two, and 
could domineer over them as he pleased ; they not 
daring to refuse obedience to his orders." 



CAPTURE OF CHAGRES. 311 

The Isthmus of Panama was then celebrated for 
its gold and silver mines. It was the seat of a very 
extensive commerce, and was perhaps more strongly 
fortified and more populous than any other of the 
Spanish colonies. This narrow tongue of land, 
which separates the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is 
about three hundred miles in length, and from thirty 
to forty in breadth. 

Chagres, on the Atlantic coast, was a very 
strongly fortified settlement at the mouth of the 
Chagres River. On the other side of the isthmus, on 
the Pacific shore, was Panama, a far more important 
place, abounding in wealth. Morgan's plan was to 
capture Chagres ; leave his fleet in the harbor 
there ; ascend the river in his boats as far as the 
stream was navigable, and then to march to the 
doomed city. With his two thousand well-armed 
desperadoes he doubted not his ability to crush any 
force which might be brought against him. 

Morgan sent, in advance, four ships and a large 
boat to capture Chagres. The expedition was in- 
trusted to the vice-admiral Bradley, the same one 
who had so successfully led the foraging party to 
Rancheria. He was a notorious buccaneer, renown- 
ed for his exploits. Three days' sail brought his 
squadron to Chagres. Upon an eminence, com- 
manding the entrance to the river, there was a 



312 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

strong fort, called Castle Lawrence. As Bradley ap- 
proached the harbor, he unfurled at his mast-head 
the blood-red flag of the pirate. The garrison im- 
mediately displayed the royal banner of Spain, and 
foolishly saluted them with a volley of shot which 
did not reach their ships. 

The buccaneers, according to their usual strata- 
gem; instead of bringing their wooden walls up to 
be battered by the guns of the fort, cast anchor 
about a mile from the castle, and landing, cut a path 
with hatchet and sabre through the tangled forest, 
to attack the works upon their weakest side. Early 
in the morning the landing was effected. By the 
middle of the afternoon they had reached a hill, 
from whose summit they could throw their shot into 
the fort, could they but have drawn their cannon to 
that spot. 

But the marshy ground would not admit of this. 
The garrison had brought their guns to bear upon 
the eminence, and opened a fire before which many 
of the pirates fell. Bradley was greatly dishearten- 
ed. The fort proved to be of very unexpected 
strength. It was surrounded by two high parallel 
walls of timber, filled in with earth. Well-con- 
structed bastions were at each corner. The works 
were enclosed by a ditch, thirty feet deep. There 
was but one entrance, and that was by a drawbridge 



CAPTURE OF CHAGRES. 313 

across this ditch. The north side of the castle was 
washed by the broad and rapid river. On the south 
there was a precipitous inaccessible crag. Strong 
batteries guarded the approaches to both the other 
sides. - . 

Even the most desperate of the pirates recoiled 
from the idea of attempting to carry works so formi- 
dable by assault. But Bradley could not endure the 
thought of the scorn and rage he would encounter 
from Morgan should he retreat without making the 
attempt. After much perplexity and disputing it 
was resolved to hazard the assault. They hoped 
with hatchet and sabre to cut down the timber, and 
then to clamber over the crumbling earth. The 
interior of the works was all of wood. There were 
barracks and huts, which, beneath the blaze of a 
tropical sun, had become dry as powder. 

Cautiously the buccaneers descended the hill, 
throwing themselves upon their faces as the explo- 
sions of the massive guns showered the balls around 
them. Their sharpshooters threw bullets through 
the loops of the walls, and through the embrasures, 
to strike down the artillery-men at the guns. This 
skirmishing was continued until night, but nothing 
was accomplished. Many of the pirates were killed, 
and Bradley himself had one of his legs broken by a 
cannon-ball. The reckless men charged up to the 
14 



314 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

very walls, threw over fire-balls, and hacked at the 
timbers. 

The pirates, as darkness approached, began to 
retreat. The Spaniards shouted to them from the 
walls: 

" Come on, you English devils ; you heretics ; 
the enemies of God and of the king. Let your com- 
rades, who are behind, come also. We will serve 
them as we have served you. You shall not get to 
Panama this time." 

This shout alarmed them. It revealed the fact 
that, in some way, the Spaniards had been warned 
of the expected attack upon Panama, and would pre- 
pare for resistance. As a group of the pirates were 
conferring together, in the dusk, an arrow from the 
castle struck one of them in the shoulder. He 
coolly drew the point from the bleeding wound, and 
addressing his companions, said : 

" Look here, my comrades, I will make this ac- 
cursed arrow the means of the destruction of all the 
Spaniards." 

He then drew from his pocket a quantity of wild 
cotton, which the buccaneers carried with them 
as lint to staunch their wounds. This he wound 
around the head of the arrow. Charging his musket 
with powder only, he inserted the arrow and fired it 
back into the castle. It lighted upon a roof of 



CAPTURE OF CHAGRES. 315 

thatch. The powder set fire to the cotton, and the 
cotton to the dry leaves. They roof was instantly 
in a flame. 

The Indians had aided the garrison, and their 
arrows lay thick around. Instantly the air was 
filled with a shower of these flaming meteors. They 
fell upon the thatched roofs, and tongues of fire 
flashed in all directions. One chanced to fall upon 
a large quantity of powder, and a fearful explosion 
followed. A terrible conflagration blazed forth. A 
scene of shrieks, confusion, and horror ensued which 
is indescribable. The inmates of the fort found 
themselves in the crater of a volcano in its most 
violent state of eruption. It was in vain to attempt 
to extinguish the flames. No one could live in such 
a furnace. 

The night was dark, moonless and starless. The 
bodies of the Spaniards were clearly defined against 
the glowing background of flame. The pirates, 
with unerring aim, shot them down. Every bullet 
struck its target. The Spaniards, in the horrible 
tumult, could make but little resistance. They still, 
however, taking refuge as they could in different 
parts of the fort, fought with impotent desperation. 
Oexemelin relates an incident illustrative of the in- 
domitable fury of the assailants. 

One of the pirates was pierced in the eye by an 



316 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

Indian arrow. In terrible agony he came to Oexeme- 
lin to draw it out. Its barbed point had sunk deep 
in the socket of the eye, and could only be with- 
drawn by cruelly tearing it out. Oexemelin hesi- 
tated ; he had not sufficient nerve to inflict such tor- 
ture. The pirate seized it with both hands, tore it 
out with its mangled and bloody adhesions, bound a 
handkerchief over the wound, and with a curse 
rushed forward again to the assault. 

The fire raged through the whole night. All 
the wood-work was consumed. The walls of earth 
crumbled down. The pirates, mounting upon each 
other's shoulders, climbed the ramparts and threw 
down hand-grenades and fire-balls, and pots of suf- 
focating odors upon the helpless garrison. " The 
armor had fallen piecemeal from their giant adver- 
sary, and he now stood before them bare, wounded, 
and defenceless." 

Still, in one corner of the fort, the heroic gov- 
ernor rallied the few survivors, twenty-five only in 
number, resolved to fight to the bitter end. They 
were slightly protected from a charge by a deep 
ditch, which ran directly before them. This, how- 
ever, afforded them no shelter from the bullets of 
their foes. A dreadful storm of fire-balls and lead 
fell upon them. They had no hope of victory — no 
hope of escape even. Their only desire was to kill 



CAPTURE OF CHAGRES. 317 

as many of the pirates as they could before they 
should die themselves. At last a shot pierced the 
brain of the governor. The feeble remnant was 
easily overpowered. 

The garrison had consisted of three hundred and 
fourteen men. All of these, excepting fourteen, 
were either killed or helplessly wounded. Not a 
single officer was left alive. The governor had pre- 
viously dispatched a courier to Panama to alarm the 
city. In this sanguinary conflict the pirates had lost 
very heavily. One hundred were killed and seventy 
grievously wounded. A large pit was dug and the 
one hundred dead bodies of the pirates were thrown 
in and covered up from sight and smell. The pris- 
oners were compelled to drag the bodies of the dead 
Spaniards to the cliff, and cast them into the sea. 
A large amount of ammunition and provisions were 
found in the fort. 

Morgan, informed of the fall of Chagres, devas- 
tated the Island of St. Catherine as much as possi- 
ble, so as to render it quite indefensible. It was 
his intention to return and recover the place, so as to 
make it a rendezvous for his fleet in future opera- 
tions. On the cruise to Chagres a violent storm 
arose. His fleet was scattered, so that they were 
detained many days at sea. But as ship after ship 
entered the bay, and the crews beheld the English 



318 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

flag floating from the blackened walls of Chagres 
Castle, the bay resounded with their cheers, and 
with salutes from their cannon. So eager was the 
admiral and some of the others in their heedless 
joy, that, without waiting for a pilot, his own and 
three other vessels were driven upon sunken rocks, 
where they broke to pieces. The crew and cargoes 
were saved. 

Morgan immediately set to work with great 
energy, employing all his force of engineers, carpen- 
ters, and laborers in repairing the castle. Here he 
stationed a garrison of picked men, storing the maga- 
zines with provisions and ammunition, as a refuge 
from any possible disaster at Panama. The fortunes 
of war are proverbially inconstant. The pirate Mor- 
gan was a very able general. His plans were gen- 
erally well formed to meet adversity as well as pros- 
perity. 



CHAPTER XX. 

The March from Chagres to Panama. 

Preparations to Ascend the River. — Crowding of the Boats. — The 
Bivouac at Bracos. — Sufferings from Hunger. — The Pathless 
Route. — The Boats Abandoned. — Light Canoes Employed. — 
Abandoned Ambuscades. — Painful Marches, Day by Day. — The 
Feast on Leathern Bags. — Murmurs and Contentions. — The 
Indians Encountered. — Struggling through the Forest. — The 
Conflagration at Santa Cruz. — Battle and Skirmishes. — First Sight 
of Panama. — Descent into the Plain. — Feasting. 

FROM the prisoners Morgan learned that three 
weeks before their arrival the garrison at Chagres 
was informed, by a message from Carthagena, that 
the English were equipping a fleet at Hispaniola for 
the capture of Panama. The governor immediately- 
sent one hundred and sixty-four soldiers to strength- 
en the garrison at Chagres, which had previously 
numbered but one hundred and fifty. Morgan was 
also informed that the governor of Panama had 
placed several ambuscades along the Chagres River, 
and that a force of three thousand six hundred men 
was awaiting his arrival at Chagres.. 

These were tidings sufficient to appal any ordi- 
nary mind. But the pirates were accustomed to 



320 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

triumph over vastly superior numbers. There were 
several large Spanish boats at Chagres, adapted to 
river navigation. All these Morgan seized. They 
generally mounted two great iron guns and four 
smaller ones of brass. These vessels, with those he 
took from his ships, made a flotilla of thirty-two 
gunboats. They were manned by twelve hundred 
sailors. Five hundred were left behind to garrison 
the castle. One hundred and fifty had charge of the 
ships. 

On the 1 8th of August, 1670, Morgan- put his 
fleet in motion to ascend the Chagres River on 
his advance to Panama. His boats were greatly 
crowded, and so heavily laden with men, ammunition, 
and arms, that he could take but a small supply of 
provisions. He expected to provide himself abun- 
dantly from the supplies he should find in the Span- 
ish ambuscades. 

The first day the little fleet ascended the river 
but eighteen miles, to a place called Bracos. The 
men on board his boats were greatly cramped in 
their limbs, having but little room to move, and 
none in which to lie down. They therefore found it 
necessary to land for the night, that they - might 
enjoy a few hours of sleep. They also hoped to rob 
some of the neighboring plantations. Nearly all 
their food had disappeared in this one day's sail. 



MARCH FROM CHAGRES TO PANAMA. 32 1 

The cheer of camp-fires seems to be essential to 
all bivouacs. The gloom of the dense tropical forest 
was soon illumined by the flames around which 
twelve hundred men were congregated. Most of 
them went supperless to their mossy beds, consoled 
only by their pipes of tobacco. In the morning they 
ranged the country in vain for food. The planters 
had fled, taking with them or destroying everything 
that could be eaten. 

Again they repaired to their boats. Hungry, 
disappointed, and murmuring, they ascended the 
river about twenty miles farther until they reached 
a place called Juan Gallego. Here they were com- 
pelled to leave their boats, as the river was so 
shallow from want of rain ; it was also much im- 
peded by decayed and fallen trees. Thus ended 
the second day. 

There was no road for an army through the 
rough, miry, tangled maze. They were told by the 
guides that, at the distance of two leagues, they 
would find the country more favorable. With sabre 
and hatchet these half-famished men hewed a nar- 
row path for themselves. They fed upon berries, 
roots, and leaves. One hundred and sixty men 
were left to guard the boats, and to feed themselves 
as best they could by hunting or plundering, or 
obtaining supplies from the fleet. 
14* 



322 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

Morgan had advanced but a mile or two when 
the gigantic growth and interlacing vines seemed to 
render the forest impenetrable. The river also 
deepened a little, so that some of his boats would 
float. There was imminent danger every moment 
that he would fall into some ambuscade. He sent 
back for some light canoes to be brought up. This 
was accomplished with great labor. He then em- 
barked his men, taking a part at a time, and thus, 
ascending the river a few miles farther, reached a 
place called Cedro Bueno. To accomplish this, the 
canoes made several' passages. The pirates were 
very eager to encounter the Spaniards, as their only 
means of obtaining any food. But the Spaniards 
wisely left them to the hardships of their march and 
to the pangs of starvation. 

The morning of the fourth day dawned upon 
these wretched marauders. Most of them struggled 
along the banks of the river, led by one of their 
guides. Others toiled against the stream, in the ca- 
noes, being often compelled to alight in the water, 
to cross sandbars or surmount rapids. To guard 
against ambuscades the guides were kept a quarter 
of a mile in advance. The Spaniards had sent for- 
ward their Indian scouts, and kept themselves in- 
formed of every movement of the foe. About noon 



MARCH FROM CHAGRES TO PANAMA. 323 

of this day they reached a place which from its ex- 
treme ruggedness was called Torna Cavallos. 

Here the guides came rushing back to the main 
body with the announcement that they had discov- 
ered an ambuscade. The half-starved men were 
delighted. They knew that the Spaniards, on all 
their expeditions, provided themselves luxuriously 
with food. Examining their muskets, their priming, 
and their sabres, that they might be prepared for a 
resistless charge, they pressed eagerly yet cautiously 
forward. They soon came in sight of an intrench- 
ment, which was shaped like a half-moon. Their 
practised eyes told them that it would protect a gar- 
rison of about four hundred men. Twelve hundred 
men, impelled by rage and hunger, with hideous 
yells rushed upon it. Bitter was J;heir disappoint- 
ment when they found no foe there. They had 
captured but an abandoned and crumbling rampart. 
There were some coarsely tanned, hairy leather 
bags scattered around. Their hunger was so great 
that these were cut up, cooked, and eaten. We have 
a minute account of the cookery of these unsavory 
morsels. 

First they took the leather and sliced it in 
pieces. Then they beat the pieces between two 
stones rubbing them and dipping them in the water, 
to render them supple and tender. Lastly they 



324 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

scraped off the hair, and roasted or broiled the pieces 
upon the fire. Being thus cooked, they cut it into 
very fine pieces, which "they helped down with 
frequent gulps of water, which by good fortune they 
had nigh at hand." 

" I can assure the reader," writes Oexemelin, 
" that a man can live on such food, though he can 
hardly get very fat." 

Esquemeling adds, " Some who were never out 
of their mothers' kitchens may ask how these 
pirates could eat, swallow, and digest those pieces 
of leather so hard and dry? Unto whom I would 
answer that could they once experience what hun- 
ger, or rather famine is, they would certainly find 
the manner, as the pirates did, by their own experi- 
ence." 

On the morning of the fifth day the weary 
march was resumed. Having had but little food, 
save the leather bags, they w^re in a deplorable 
condition. The pirates were not amiable men. 
They staggered along, in their weakness, over the 
rough ways, murmuring, quarrelling, and cursing each 
other. As night approached they came to a place 
called Barbacoa. Here they found another aban- 
doned ambuscade.- Not a particle of food Avas to be 
obtained. Loud and bitter were their oaths against 
the Spaniards. Dreadful would have been the fate 



MARCH FROM CHAGRES TO PANAMA. 325 

of any of them who might have fallen into their 
hands. Esquemeling says that they were so con- 
sumed by hunger, that if they had caught any of the 
Spaniards they would certainly have roasted and 
eaten them. 

Parties were sent out to explore the woods in 
search of habitations. But none could be found. 
The inhabitants, in all directions, had fled, carrying 
with them their provisions. The day was spent 
here. It was a day of dreadful suffering. Life was 
preserved by devouring berries, roots, and leaves. 
Several plantations were discovered, but there was 
generally not an individual, an animal, or a kernel 
of corn left behind. In one place they found con- 
cealed two sacks of wheat, two jars of wine, and a 
few plantains. These Morgan divided among those 
who were nearest to perishing of hunger. 

The sixth day they continued their march, still 
along the banks of the Chagres River. Such as 
could not walk were paddled along in light canoes. 
At night they came to a plantation, which, as usual, 
was entirely abandoned. Their supper consisted 
mainly of leaves and grass. 

The next day, at noon, they discovered a barn, 
full of Indian corn in the husk. They fell upon it 
and devoured it dry, with the rapacity of a herd of 
swine. Having satiated their hunger, each man 



326 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

loaded himself with as much as he could carry. 
With renovated spirits, they pressed on their way. 
After journeying along for a couple of hours, they 
came upon a band of about two hundred Indians, 
who fled with the utmost precipitation. They were 
far more fleet of foot than the exhausted pirates, 
and not one of them was shot or captured. In their 
flight, the Indians threw back a shower of arrows, 
which wounded several of the pirates, and killed 
three of them. They shouted out in Spanish : 
" Ha ! ye dogs, go to the plain, go to the plain." 

They now reached such a bend in the river that 
it was necessary to cross it. They therefore bivou- 
acked for the night. This place was called Santa 
Cruz. 

Loud murmurings filled the camp. Morgan was 
denounced in unmeasured terms. They were in- 
deed involved in gloom. To go back was certain 
starvation. And destruction seemed equally to 
threaten them in a farther advance. There were 
some, however, who still kept up their courage, and 
shouted, " Onward ! onward ! " 

The morning of the seventh day they crossed 
the river. As it was supposed that they must soon 
meet the Spaniards, every man was required care- 
fully to examine his musket and pistols, to be ready 
for any engagement. The guides told them that 



MARCH FROM CHAGRES TO PANAMA. 327 

they were approaching the important town of Cruz, 
where they would find provisions and other stores 
in abundance. This was called the halfway house 
between Chagres and Panama, though it was sixty- 
eight miles from the former place and but twenty- 
four from the latter. To this point the Chagres 
merchandise was taken in boats, when the river was 
full, and, being landed, was conveyed to Panama on 
the backs of mules. To give the reader some idea 
of the style of Esquemeling's narrative, written two 
hundred years ago,* I will quote his graphic descrip- 
tion of what ensued : 

" While yet at a considerable distance from Cruz, 
they perceived much smoke to arise out of the chim- 
neys. The sight thereof afforded them great joy, 
and hopes of finding people in the town ; and after- 
wards what they most desired was plenty of good 
cheer. Thus they went on, with as much haste 
as they could, making several arguments to one 
another upon those external signs, though all like 
castles built in the air. For said they, ' There is 
smoke cometh out of every house. Therefore they 
are making good fires for to roast and boil what we 
are to eat,' with other things to this purpose. 

" At length they arrived there, in great haste, 

* His account was written in Dutch, but translated into Eng- 
lish and published in London. 



328 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

all sweating and panting; but found no person in 
the town, nor any thing that was eatable, where- 
with to refresh themselves, unless it were good fires 
to warm themselves, which they wanted not. For 
the Spaniards, before their departure, had every one 
set fire to his own house, excepting only the store- 
houses and stables belonging to the king. 

" They had not left behind them any beast what- 
ever, either alive or dead. This occasioned much 
confusion in their minds ; they.not finding the least' 
thing to take hold of, unless it were some few cats 
and dogs, which they immediately killed and de- 
voured with great appetite. At last,, in the king's 
stables, they found, by good fortune, fifteen or six- 
teen jars of Peru wine, and a leather sack full of 
bread. But no sooner had they begun to drink of 
the said wine, when they fell sick, almost every 
man. 

" This sudden disaster made them think that 
the wine was poisoned, which caused a new con- 
sternation in the whole camp, as judging themselves 
now to be irrecoverably lost. But the true reason 
was their huge want of sustenance in that whole 
voyage, and the manifold sorts of trash which'they 
had eaten upon that occasion. Their sickness was 
so great that day as caused them to remain there 
till the next morning, without being able to prose- 



MARCH" FROM CHAGRES TO PANAMA. 329 

cute their journey, as they used to do, in the after- 
noon. 

" Here Captain Morgan was constrained to leave 
his canoes and land all his men, though never so 
weak in their bodies. But lest the canoes should be 
surprised, or take too many men for their defence, 
he resolved to send them all back to the place 
where the boats were, excepting one, which he 
caused to be hidden, to the intent it might serve to 
carry intelligence, according to the exigency of 
affairs. Many of the Spaniards and Indians, be- 
longing to this village, were fled unto the planta- 
tions thereabouts. Hereupon Captain Morgan gave 
express orders that none should dare to go out of 
the village except in whole companies of one hun- 
dred together. 

" The occasion hereof was his fear lest the ene- 
mies should take an advantage upon his men by any 
sudden assault. Notwithstanding, one party of 
English soldiers stickled not to contravene these 
commands, being thereunto tempted with the de- 
sire of finding victuals. But these were soon glad 
to fly into the town again, being assaulted with 
great fury by some Spaniards and Indians, who 
snatched up one of the pirates and carried him away 
prisoner. Thus the vigilancy and care of Captain 



330 SIR HENRY MORGAN.* 

Morgan was not sufficient to prevent every accident 
which might happen." 

On the morning of the 8th, Morgan reviewed his 
troops. He found that he had still eleven hundred 
resolute men at his command. He selected a band 
of two hundred of his best marksmen as an advance 
guard. They were to watch vigilantly for ambus- 
cades. The path they were to traverse was very 
narrow. At many places but two could pass abreast. 
Cautiously they proceeded for ten hours, encounter- 
ing no sign of an enemy. 

At length they reached a dark wooded gorge, 
which the sunlight could scarcely penetrate. Appa- 
rently no one could enter the dense thickets around, 
of bushes, thorns, and intertwining vines, but by 
hewing his way with the hatchet. A high mountain 
rose before them. But nature had tunnelled it, so 
that there was a narrow path through. This re- 
markable place was called Quebrada Obscura. 

Suddenly, from the impenetrable forest which 
enveloped the mountain, a shower of arrows fell 
upon them, like hailstones from the clouds. They 
probably exaggerated the number in estimating 
them at between three and four thousand. They 
came rushing, as by some supernatural impulse, 
through the leaves. No hand was seen. No sound 
was heard. No movement was perceptible. There 



was but that one flight of arrows and no more. 
Those who, with sinewy arms, had thrown them, in 
some mysterious way escaped — as it were, vanished. 

This singular and inexplicable assault threw the 
army into great confusion. For a moment, these 
reckless men were staggered. It seems strange that 
but eight of the pirates were killed and ten wounded 
by this shower of arrows. After a few moments' 
delay, the pirates moved cautiously forward, thread- 
ing the narrow tunnel, through which but two could 
walk abreast, until they came out upon a very rough 
plain on the other side, encumbered with huge rocks 
and a growth of gigantic trees. To this vantage- 
ground the Indians had retreated, and here they 
seemed disposed to make a stand. 

Quite a fierce battle ensued. The Indians could 
be seen, in large numbers, dodging from rock to 
rock, and from tree to tree. They fought with great 
bravery. Their chief was a very handsome young 
fellow, gorgeously dressed, and with a very brilliant 
coronet of variegated feathers. He seemed to have 
no fear. At length, in his zeal, he plunged head- 
long upon the pirates, utterly regardless of numbers, 
and endeavored to thrust his javelin through one a 
little in the advance. The blow was parried, and he 
was instantly shot down. 

As he was seen to fall, there was a loud cry from 



332 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

his followers, and, without discharging another shaft, 
they all fled. The pirates impetuously pursued. 
The fugitives could not be overtaken. A few of the 
boldest concealed themselves behind trees and thick- 
ets, whence they could make good their retreat, and 
worried the pirates with a random fire, which sorely 
wounded a few, without accomplishing any impor- 
tant results. 

The buccaneers entered soon upon a broad, tree- 
less prairie. Here they halted to tend the wounded. 
At some distance before them there was another 
rocky and wooded eminence. The Indians, who 
seemed to be swarming there, were evidently pre- 
paring for another battle. A party of fifty men was 
sent, by a circuitous route, to attack them in the 
rear. Their watchful eyes detected the movement. 
With nimble feet, they fled, shouting to their assail- 
ants, "To the plain, to the plain, you English dogs." 

The pirates rightly interpreted these words to 
mean that on the plain before Panama a large body 
of Spaniards was assembled, and that there the 
great struggle was to take place. Many Spaniards 
were with the Indians. At this point, which was 
but a few miles from Panama, they disappeared. 
The next night there came one of those flooding 
rains with which tropical lands were so often del- 
uged. The pirates in vain sought shelter from the 



MARCH FROM CHAGRES TO PANAMA. 333 

drenching storm. There was the blackness of dark- 
ness, with thunderings and lightnings, and the howl- 
ings of the tornado. There were many plantations 
on the route where houses and huts had been 
reared. But the Indians had applied the torch. 
Every building was in ashes. The cattle were 
driven away. All provisions were removed or con- 
sumed. These wretched men, on their fiend-like 
mission, were still starving. 

The next morning, which was the ninth of their 
journey, the rain ceased. Heavy clouds floated 
through the sky, darkening the sun, and thus 
enabling them to march sheltered from its scorch- 
ing rays. A well-mounted troop of twenty Spa- 
niards appeared at some distance in the advance, 
watching all the movements of the invaders. During 
the day they came to quite a high mountain, which 
it was necessary to cross. From its summit they 
first caught sigjit of the Pacific Ocean, and of the 
Bay of Panama, upon whose shores the city of the 
same name was situated. In the bay there was a 
large Spanish ship riding at anchor. Six boats 
were under sail, directing their course toward the 
islands of Tavoga and Tavogilla, which were about 
eighteen miles distant. 

At this sight the pirates raised shouts of joy 
Never doubting their own prowess, they considered 



334 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

their toils as ended, and the city, with all its treas- 
ures, as already in their possession. At the foot of 
the mountain there was a large grassy plain, over 
which thousands of cattle were grazing, cows, horses, 
bulls, mules, and donkeys. With a rush, the piratic 
gangs descended the mountain, and, with the vora- 
city of famished wolves, fell upon the cattle. 

" One shot a horse. Another felled a cow. But 
the greater part slaughtered the mules, which were 
most numerous. Some kindled fires ; others col- 
lected wood ; and the strongest hunted the cattle, 
while the invalids slew and skinned and flayed. The 
whole plain was soon alight with a hundred fires. 
The hungry men cut off lumps of flesh, carbonaded 
them in the flame, and ate them half raw, with 
incredible haste and ferocity. •' They resembled,' 
Esquemeling says, ' rather cannibals than Christians, 
the blood running down their beards to the middle 
of their bodies.' " * 

* Monarchs of the Main, vol. ii. p. 114. 



CHAPTER XXI. 
The Capture of Panama. 

First Sight of the City. — The Spanish Scouts Appear. — Morgan's 
Advance. — Character of the Country. — Fears of the Spaniards. — 
Removal of Treasure. — Capture of the City. — The Poisoned 
Wine. — Magnificent Scenery of the Bay. — Description of Panama 
and its Surroundings. — Wealth of the City. — Scenes of Crime 
and Cruelty. 

MORGAN was an extrordinary man. Fear never 
appalled him. He was never discouraged by disas- 
ters. Passion was never allowed to throw him off 
his guard. He shared, in full, all the hardships of 
his demoniac crew. Though hungry and weary him- 
self, and sympathizing with his starving men in their 
sufferings, he did not in the least degree remit his 
watchfulness or lose his self-control. 

Perceiving the danger that his men, in their 
famished condition, indulging in such reckless glut- 
tony might induce sickness which would incapa- 
citate them for battle, he ordered a false alarm to be 
sounded. Instantly every man seized his musket 
and ran to his appointed place in the ranks. Mor- 
gan had taken the precaution, before descending. 



330 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

the mountain, to order every musket to be dis- 
charged and loaded afresh, from fear that the 
powder might have become damp. 

There were several miles yet to be traversed, 
over plains and through forests, before the pirates 
could enter the streets of the city, which they had 
discerned in the distance. Cautiously they con- 
tinued their march until the approach of evening, 
when they ascended an eminence which commanded 
a perfect view of the city, with its steeples, houses, 
and streets all aglow with the rays of the setting 
sun. Here the shouts of exultation were renewed. 
The pirates, strengthened by their feast, danced for 
joy, beating their drums, sounding their trumpets, 
firing off their muskets, and exulting as in the hour 
of perfect victory. Here they encamped for the 
night, waiting impatiently for the morning, which 
would usher in the decisive battle. 

In the evening two hundred mounted Spaniards 
rode out from the city, dashed along until they 
came within hailing distance of the pirates, and 
shouted out to them words which could not be un- 
derstood. Morgan established double sentinels, and 
all his men slept upon their arms. 

At daybreak on the tenth day the Spaniards, 
from their walls, sounded with bugle-peal and drum- 
beat a challenge to their foes. The pirates were 



THE CAPTURE OF PANAMA. 337 

equally eager for the fight. Rapidly they advanced 
into the plain. The Spaniards, on horseback and 
on foot, crowded out to meet them. In glittering 
battalions they were drawn up upon the plain, out- 
numbering the pirates three to one. There were 
two squadrons of cavalry, four regiments of foot, 
and, most singular to relate, " a huge number of wild 
bulls, roaring and tossing their horns, driven by 
a great number of Indians and a few mounted 
matadores." 

It is recorded that the pirates were surprised and 
alarmed in view of the force thus to be encountered. 
Many of them wished they were at home. No 
quarter was to be expected. There was no hope 
for them but in fighting with the utmost desperation. 
All were conscious of this. They therefore bound 
themselves, by the most solemn baths, to conquer or 
to spend the last drop of their blood. 

Morgan formed his men into three battalions, 
after selecting a band of two hundred sharp- 
shooters to skirmish in the advance. Many of the 
Spaniards were armed in glittering coats of mail. 
Their silken banners, richly embroidered, presented 
a beautiful appearance as they fluttered in the rays 
of the morning sun. The Spaniards sent forward a 
squadron of horse. As they came galloping over 
the plain, Morgan's skirmishers fell upon one knee, 
15 



338 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

in the tall grass, and opened upon them a very 
destructive fire. Several riders dropped from their 
horses. Several horses, struck by the bullets, and 
appalled by the sudden explosion of two hundred 
guns, became uncontrollable, and rushed wildly over 
the plain in all directions. 

" The bulls," writes Thornbury, "proved as fatal 
to those who employed them as the elephants to 
Porus. Driven on the rear of the buccaneers, they 
took fright at the noise of the battle, a few only 
broke through the English companies, and trampled 
the red colors under foot ; but these were soon shot 
by the old hunters. A few fled to the savanna, 
and the rest tore back and carried havoc through 
the Spanish ranks." 

The plain was rough with ravines and quagmires, 
so that the cavalry could not operate to advantage. 
The desperate pirates were all reckless in their 
courage, and nearly all unerring in their aim. The 
Spaniards were also men of war and blood, who had 
been guilty of the greatest atrocities as they had 
cut down and robbed the native tribes. They 
fought with ferocity equal to that of the pirates. 
In this battle it was, in reality, fiend against fiend 
• The Spaniards were as bad as the pirates. 

For two hours the battle raged with intensest 
fury. There was neither tree, stump, nor rock to 



THE CAPTURE OF PANAMA. 339 

protect either party from the bullets which with 
deadly velocity swept the plain. On the one side 
there were eleven hundred pirates. Esquemeling 
estimated the force of the Spaniards at four hundred 
cavalry and two thousand four hundred infantry. 
There were also one or two hundred Indians and 
negroes to drive the wild bulls through the English 
camp, hoping thus to break their lines and throw 
them into confusion. The Spaniards had also dug 
trenches and raised batteries to arrest the advance 
of their foes. 

Morgan, as usual, ordered his men to approach 
the city by a circuitous route, so as to avoid the 
batteries. In preparation for this movement he 
ordered a review of the troops. He concealed from 
his troops the number of pirates who had fallen, but 
announced, probably with some exaggeration, that 
six hundred of the Spaniards lay dead upon the 
field. 

It would seem that the Spaniards had not been 
very sanguine as to the result of the battle ; for they 
had shipped to the Island of Tavoga much of their 
portable wealth and all of their women. In the 
battle thus far, the Spaniards had been so decidedly 
beaten that they had abandoned the field, and 
horse and foot had taken a new stand behind the 
ramparts. Many prisoners had been taken, includ- 



340 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

ing quite a number of Catholic priests. Morgan, not 
wishing to be encumbered with prisoners, ordered 
them all to be pistolled. The pirates had lost 
heavily, but their loss exasperated instead of dis- 
heartening them. 

Esquemeling writes: "The pirates were nothing 
discouraged, seeing their numbers so much dimin- 
ished, but rather filled with greater pride than 
before, perceiving what huge advantage they had 
obtained against their enemies. Thus, having 
rested themselves some while, they prepared to 
march courageously towards the city, plighting their 
oaths to one another that they would fight till never 
a man were left alive. With this courage they recom- 
menced their march either to conquer or to be con- 
quered. 

" They found much difficulty in their approach 
unto the city. For within the town the Spaniards 
had placed many great guns at several quarters 
thereof, some of which were charged with small 
pieces of iron and others with musket bullets. 
With all these they saluted the pirates at their 
drawing nigh unto the place, and gave them full 
and frequent broadsides, firing at them incessantly. 
From whence it happened that they lost, at every 
step they advanced, great numbers of men. 

" But neither these manifest dangers of their 



THE CAPTURE OF PANAMA. 34 1 

lives, nor the sight of so many of their own drop- 
ping down continually at their sides, could deter 
them from advancing farther and gaining ground 
every moment upon the enemy. Thus, although the 
Spaniards never ceased to fire, and act the best they 
could for their defence, yet, notwithstanding, they 
were forced to deliver the city after the space of 
three hours' combat. And the pirates, having now 
possessed themselves thereof, both killed and de- 
stroyed as many as attempted to make the least 
opposition against them. 

" The inhabitants had caused the best of their 
goods to be transported unto more remote and 
occult places. Howbeit, they found within the 
city, as yet, several warehouses well stocked with 
all sorts of merchandise, as well silks and cloths as 
linen and other things of considerable value. As 
soon as the first fury of their entrance into the city 
was over, Captain Morgan assembled all his men, at 
a certain place which he assigned, and there com- 
manded them, under very great penalties, that none 
of them should dare to drink or taste any wine. 

" The reason he gave for this injunction was 
because he had received private intelligence that it 
had been all poisoned by the Spaniards. Howbeit it 
was the opinion of many that he gave those prudent 
orders to prevent the debauchery of his people, which 



342 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

he foresaw would be very great at the beginning, 
after so much hunger sustained by the way ; fear- 
ing withal lest the Spaniards, seeing them in wine, 
should rally their forces, and use them as inhumanly 
as they had used the inhabitants before." 

Morgan was now master of Panama, The city, 
with nearly all of its wealth, had fallen into his 
hands. And st'ill the vanquished Spaniards could 
rally a force greatly outnumbering his own. The 
Bay of Panama is one of peculiar beauty. At that 
time its shores were fringed with luxuriant groves of 
oranges, figs, and limes. The feathery tops of the 
cocoanut trees towered over all the rest, rivalled 
only by the lofty tamarinds. Through the rich foli- 
age there peeped, in much picturesque beauty, nu- 
merous cane-built huts. Indian children, entirely 
unclothed, were running about upon the beach, 
while birch canoes, light as bubbles, were skimming 
the placid waves. 

The islands of Tavoga and Tavogilla appeared 
in the distance as masses of foliage. The mines of 
Mexico and Peru had emptied their floods of wealth 
into that port. Many of the mansions were archi- 
tecturally magnificent. They were adorned with the 
richest paintings and with the most costly furniture. 
The Spanish grandees had hung upon their walls 
the masterpieces of Titian, Murillo, and Velasquez. 



THE CAPTURE OF PANAMA. 343 

The streets of the city were broad, an unusual cir- 
cumstance in Spanish cities, and were lined with the 
most beautiful and ever-flowering of tropical trees. 

Within the walls of the city there was a cathe- 
dral of imposing magnitude and towering splendor. 
There were also eight monasteries, massive buildings, 
occupied by the religious orders, and abundantly 
supplied with works of art. The broad avenues 
were lined with two thousand mansions of the 
wealthy ; and five thousand smaller houses and shops 
crowded the more busy streets. The most imposing 
block in the city was what was called the Genoese 
Warehouses. These belonged to a company who 
had enriched themselves by the slave trade. An 
immense number of horses and mules were used in 
transporting goods across the isthmus, from one 
ocean to the other. These were kept in long rows 
of stables admirably arranged. The products of the 
mines of gold and silver were melted down into solid 
bars called plate or bullion, and in that form were 
sent to the Old World. The city was surrounded 
with rich plantations and highly artistic gardens. 

" Panama was the city to which all the treasures 
of Peru were annually brought. The plate fleet, 
laden with bars of gold and silver, arrived here at 
certain periods, brimming with the crown wealth, as 
well as that of private merchants. It returned laden 



344 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

with the merchandise of Panama and the Spanish 
main, to be sold in Peru and Chili ; and still oftener 
with droves of negro slaves that the Genoese im- 
ported from the coast of Guinea to toil and die in 
the Peruvian mines. 

" So wealthy was this golden city that more than 
two thousand mules were employed in the transport 
of the gold and silver from thence to Porto Bello, 
where the galleons were loaded. The merchants of 
Panama were proverbially the richest in the whole 
Spanish West Indies. The governor of Panama 
was the suzerain of Porto Bello, Nata, Cruz, and Ve- 
ragua. The bishop of Panama was primate of the 
Terra Firma and the suffragan to the archbishop of 
Peru. The district of Panama was the most healthy 
of all the Spanish colonies, rich in mines, and so well 
wooded that its ship-timber covered with vessels 
both the northern and the southern seas. Its land 
yielded full crops, and its broad savannas pastured 
innumerable herds of wild cattle."* 

Such was the city and province which had fallen 
into the hands of this gang of pirates. They found 
the booty, notwithstanding all the Spaniards had 
removed, rich beyond their most sanguine expecta- 
tions. The stores were still crowded with goods of 
great value. Wine, spices, olive oil, silks and cloths 
* Monarchs of the Main, vol. ii. p. 159. 



THE CAPTURE OF PANAMA. 345 

of every variety of fabric were found in great abund- 
ance. The magazines were amply supplied with 
corn and other provisions. 

Morgan himself was surprised at the grandeur of 
his capture. He was also alarmed in view of his 
own peril. The force which could still be arrayed 
against him was far greater than he had anticipated. 
He was in imminent danger of being cut off from 
his return to the ships. There were several Span- 
ish vessels aground in the port. Morgan seized 
them. With the high tide they were floated. He 
manned them with the most desperate of his gang 
and sent them to the islands, and to pursue the ves- 
sels which had escaped with treasure along the coast. 

There was one royal Spanish mercantile vessel, 
in particular, of four hundred tons, which had es- 
caped, laden with church plate and jewels, and the 
richest merchandise. It had put to sea in the 
greatest haste, with but seven guns and but about a 
dozen muskets. It was poorly supplied with food 
and water, and had only the uppermost sails of the 
mainmast to spread. All the females of the nun- 
nery were on board this ship, with the most valuable 
ornaments of the church. 

Morgan was anxious to make an immediate pur- 
suit of this vessel. Had he done so the vessel would 
easily have been captured. But for a time he lost 
15* 



346 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

the control of his demoniac crew. Inflamed with 
wine — for Morgan's prohibition had no effect — and 
rushing into the most pitiless debauchery, they 
spent many hours in scenes which neither Sodom 
nor Gomorrah could ever have outrivalled. Thus 
the ship escaped. It is said that it contained gold 
and silver of greater value than all the treasures 
found in Panama. 

Morgan probably foresaw that unless he could 
-destroy these liquors, with which the city was filled, 
his men would become entirely disorganized, and 
the Spaniards, falling upon the drunken rabble, 
would easily cut them to pieces. He could not de- 
stroy liquors before the eyes of the pirates, for they 
would not permit it. 

He set fire to the city in various quarters, care- 
fully spreading the report that the conflagration was 
kindled by the Spaniards themselves. The fire 
spread with such rapidity that, in a few hours, 
nearly all of the business portion was laid in ashes. 
Most of the humbler buildings were of wood, with 
thatched roofs. They burned like tinder. Two hun- 
dred stores, with all their contents, were destroyed. 
The Genoese Warehouses were burned. There were 
many poor slaves imprisoned in them. They were 
consumed by the all-devouring flames. 

This energetic commander, as pitiless as any 



THE CAPTURE OF PANAMA. 347 

beast which ever howled in the jungle, had accom- 
plished his purpose. His troops were driven out of 
the flaming streets into the fields, and there they 
were compelled to encamp. These wretched men, 
satiated with gluttony, drunkenness, and debauchery, 
began now to awake, with new eagerness, to their 
old passion for plunder. 

Four vessels were dispatched to visit the islands 
and to cruise along the coast in both directions. 
One hundred and sixty men were sent back to 
Chagres to convey supplies to the troops in garrison 
there, and to inform them of the great victory. 
Daily companies of two hundred men, one party re- 
lieving another, were sent out to explore the region 
around. They returned every night with a group 
of pale and trembling prisoners, and with mules 
laden with treasure. These unhappy captives were 
tortured to compel them to reveal where treasure, 
of which they knew nothing, was concealed. The 
father, the mother, the maiden daughter, and the 
child were alike stretched on the bed of torture. 
Neither innocence, beauty, nor virtue afforded the 
female captive any protection. , 

A pauper Spaniard, not much more than half- 
witted, wandered, during the confusion, into a rich 
man's house, stripped off his rags, and clothed him- 
self in costly linen with breeches of bright red taf- 



348 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

feta and a coat of silk velvet. As he was foolishly 
strutting about admiring his finery, the pirates broke 
in, and seized him as their prize. They believed, or 
assumed to believe, that he was the master of the 
house, and demanded that he should inform them 
where he had concealed his treasure. 

In vain he pointed to his rags and protested, by 
all the saints, that he had lived upon charity. There 
was nothing he could reveal. These cruel men 
stretched him on the rack. They dislocated his 
joints. They twisted a cord around his forehead, 
" till his eyes appeared as big as eggs, and were 
ready to fall out." They hung him up by the 
thumbs and scourged him. They cut off his nose 
and ears and singed his face with blazing straw. 
Then with the thrusts of their lances they put him 
to death. 

" After this execrable manner," writes Esqueme- 
ling, " did many others of these miserable prisoners 
finish their days ; the common sport and recreation 
of these pirates being these, and other tragedies 
not inferior to these." 



CHAPTER XXII. 
The Return from Panama. 

Return of the Explorers. — The Beautiful Captive. — Sympathy in her 
behalf. — Embarrassments of Morgan. — inflexible Virtue of the 
Captive. — The Conspiracy. — Efficiency of Morgan. — His Obdu- 
racy. — The Search of the Pirates. — The Return March. — Morgan 
Cheats the Pirates. — Runs Away. 

The vessels which Morgan sent out to the islands, 
and to cruise along the shore, all returned within 
about eight days. They came laden with merchan- 
dise and with captives. The fate of the female cap- 
tives was dreadful. In this treatment none of the 
men were worse than Morgan himself. In one of the 
shiploads of captives there was a Spanish lady of 
exquisite beauty. She was quite young, and the 
wife of a wealthy merchant, then absent in Peru. 
She is described by both Esquemeling and Oexeme- 
lin as a lady endowed with such loveliness as is 
rarely seen upon earth. Esquemeling writes : 

" Her years were few, and her beauty so great as, 
peradventure, I may doubt whether, in all Christen- 
dom, any could be found to surpass her perfections, 
either of comeliness or honesty." 



350 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

Oexemelin gives a more detailed account of her 
charms. He says that 'her hair was in glossy, silken 
ringlets of jet black. Though a brunette, her com- 
plexion was of dazzling purity. Her large, lustrous 
black eyes beamed with a peculiar expression of ten- 
derness, which won the admiration of all who be- 
held her. The roughest pirates were subdued and 
softened by her presence. To them she presented 
almost the image of the Virgin Mary, and they re- 
garded her charms as angelic. 

The moment Morgan cast his eyes upon her he 
was overawed and captivated by her beauty, and 
was inspired with the most intense desire to win her 
love. Others had been his slaves, subject to his bru- 
tal will. But this lady, with her beauty, her grace, 
her accomplishments, her virtue, so far vanquished 
him, that he could not approach her but as a suppli- 
ant for her favor. 

Love, the essence of the deity, is, under some cir- 
cumstances, in its legitimate bearing, the most puri- 
fying of influences. Under other circumstances it is 
the most debasing and brutalizing of passions. It 
was observed that the demeanor of Morgan became 
quite changed. He became more social more gen- 
tle, and was particularly attentive to his dress, cloth- 
ing himself in his richest attire. He ordered his 
beautiful captive to be separated from the other 



THE RETURN FROM PANAMA. 35 1 

prisoners, appointed a negress to wait upon her, sent 
her delicate viands from his own table, and treated 
her, in all respects, with the greatest consideration. 
The negress was instructed to do everything in her 
power to convince the captive lady that her captor 
was not a beast and a heretic, as she had been 
taught to believe, but a gentleman, and a Christian, 
a man of polished manners and cultivated mind. 
Esquemeling writes : 

" This lady had formerly heard strange reports 
concerning the pirates, before their arrival at Pana- 
ma, as if they were not men, but heretics, who did 
neither invoke the blessed Trinity, nor believe in 
Jesus Christ. But now she began to have better 
thoughts of them than ever before, having experi- 
enced the manifold civilities of Captain Morgan ; 
especially as she heard him many times swear by 
the name of God and of Jesus Christ, in whom she 
had been persuaded that they did not believe. 

" Neither did she now think them to be so bad, 
or to have the shapes of beasts, as she had often 
heard. For as to the names of robbers or thieves, 
which was commonly given them, she wondered not 
much at it, seeing, as she said, that among all nations 
there were to be found some wicked men who natu- 
rally coveted to possess the goods of others." 

Morgan visited the lady with smiles and bows 



352 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

and costly presents. He flooded her chamber with 
robes, jewels, and perfumes. She was not deceived. 
And when he ventured to propose that she should 
abandon her husband, and become virtually his wife, 
and accompany him to the home of splendor with 
which he would provide her, she repelled him with 
indignation and loathing. Replying to him with all 
the eloquence of impassioned innocence, she said : 

" Sir, my life is in your hands. But sooner shall 
my soul be separated from my body than I will sur- 
render myself to your demands." 

This repulse stirred up the rage of the infamous 
pirate. He stripped her of her rich attire, left her 
only the coarsest garments, and threw her into a 
dark and loathsome dungeon. She was supplied 
with only enough food to support life. By these 
brutalities he hoped to break her spirit, and to com- 
pel her to acquiesce in his wishes. 

Even demons can appreciate true nobility of 
character. The beauty and virtues of this lady had 
won, in some degree, the sympathy -of the vilest of 
these wretches. Morgan could not conceal his treat- 
ment from them. They began to murmur, to de- 
nounce him, to curse him as a brute. 

" I myself," says Esquemeling, " was an eye-wit- 
ness of the lady's sufferings, and could never have 
believed that such constancy and virtue could have 



THE RETURN FROM PANAMA. 353 

been found in the world, had I not been assured 
thereof by my own eyes and ears." 

Morgan became alarmed by the threatening 
aspect assumed by his men. Various causes had 
been for some time undermining his authority. He 
knew full well that there was not one of these des- 
peradoes who would hesitate, for one moment, to 
thrust a poniard into his heart, or to pierce his brain 
with a bullet. These pirates were all consummate 
villains. There was no sense of honor among them. 
There was no crime from which they would shrink 
did they deem it for their interest to commit it. 
Even their sympathy for the beautiful captive lady 
resolved itself mainly into jealousy of the captain. 
Had they seized her unprotected in the halls of a 
nunnery, she would have experienced no mercy 
whatever at their hands. 

The pirates, flushed with their great victory, and 
the vast amount of wealth, of every kind, at their 
disposal, had formed a conspiracy, in which more 
than a hundred were implicated. Their plan was to 
get rid of Morgan, then to seize one of the islands 
in the neighborhood as their rendezvous, and to 
make it their stronghold. With the vessels they 
already had, and the ships they would soon capture, 
they would have an invincible fleet. Then they 
would sweep the Pacific Ocean, and ravage all the 



354 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

coasts of Chili and Peru. After they had acquired 
sufficient plunder to make them all millionnaires, they 
would return to Europe, by the way of the East In- 
dies, picking up ships by the way, and would then 
disperse to seek new homes and riot in luxury for 
the remainder of their days. 

In preparation for this movement they had se- 
creted several of the large guns of the town and an 
ample store of ammunition. But Morgan was equal 
to this emergency. One of the conspirators betrayed 
the rest. The first intimation the conspirators had 
that their design was discovered was in seeing every 
vessel and boat in the harbor in flames. Every piece 
of artillery in the place was spiked. Thus they were 
entirely frustrated in their plan. Orders were then 
given t© pack the mules with treasure, and to make 
immediate preparation to return to Chagres. 

The plunder of Panama had not yet been divided. 
Though every pirate had taken the most solemn 
oath that all the booty should be thrown into com- 
mon stock, and that he would not secrete anything, 
no one had any confidence in the oath of another. 
Morgan ordered every man to be searched, from the 
crown of his head to the soles of his shoes. Though 
Morgan himself submitted to be first searched, they 
were all exasperated by this. Every man was com- 



THE RETURN FROM PANAMA. 355 

pelled to discharge his musket to prove that no 
jewels were hidden in its barrel. 

The French portion of the pirates were espe- 
cially enraged against Morgan. Many oaths were, 
uttered that they would put him to death before 
they reached Jamaica. In a few days all the treas- 
ure was packed in convenient bales, and placed upon 
the backs of the mules. The church plate was 
beaten into shapeless lumps for more convenient 
stowage. The treasure which could not be removed 
they wantonly destroyed. One hundred and fifty 
men were sent to Chagres to bring the boats as far 
up the river as the stream was navigable. He in- 
formed the prisoners that he should take all, as slaves, 
to Jamaica, who did not, through their friends, obtain 
an ample ransom. 

For the ransom of his beautiful captive, from 
whom he now rather desired to be relieved, he de- 
manded thirty thousand dollars. Two of the ecclesi- 
astics were permitted to go to her friends to obtain 
this money. It was immediately furnished them. 
They returned with it, and treacherously, instead of 
ransoming her, employed the money for the ransom 
of their own particular friends. 

This treachery was known throughout the army. 
Even the pirates denounced it. The murmurs in 
the camp were so loud, that Morgan was com- 



356 SIR HENRY MORGAN. 

pelled to heed them, and he gave the lady her 
liberty. 

On the morning of the 24th of February, 1671, 
these robbers set out on their return to Chagres. 
Many of the captive women implored Captain Mor- 
gan, upon their knees, with loud lamentations, to 
permit them to remain with their husbands and 
their children.. Unfeelingly he replied : 

" I did not come here to listen to the cries of 
women, but to obtain money. Bring me money, and 
you shall be released. If you do not, you shall sure- 
ly go to Jamaica." 

" When the march began," writes Esquemeling, 
" those lamentable cries and shrieks were renewed, in- 
somuch that it would have caused compassion in the 
hardest heart to, hear them. But Captain Morgan, 
as a man little given to mercy, was not moved there- 
with in the least." 

The line of march was as before. First there 
were scouts a quarter of a mile in advance of the 
troops. Then followed the advance guard in great 
strength. The prisoners came next, with the heav- 
ily laden mules. The remainder of the pirates 
formed the rear guard. They goaded forward the 
fainting, tottering, despairing captives with push of 
javelin and prick of sabre. 

When they reached the blackened ruins of the 



THE RETURN FROM PANAMA. 357 

town of Cruz, which was at the head of boat naviga- 
tion, the mules were unloaded, and their burdens 
were placed in the canoes. There was a necessary 
delay here of several days, and quite a number of 
the prisoners, who had written agonizing letters to 
their friends, received their money and paid their 
ransom. Morgan still had with him many woe- 
stricken Spaniards, and one hundred and fifty negro 
slaves. These last he deemed cash articles, for they 
would bring the money in any of the ports of the 
West Indies. 

From Cruz the pirates advanced in two. parties, 
one in the boats, and another on the land. Chagres 
tvas reached without any event occurring of special 
importance. Immediately after his arrival, Morgan, 
with his characteristic energy, sent some of his pris- 
oners to the important town of Puerto Velo, fre- 
quently called Puerto Bello, with the announcement 
that if the citizens did not forthwith send him a large 
ransom, he would utterly demolish the castle and 
lay all the works there in ruins.- As Chagres was 
the all-important port of entry for the whole province, 
he thought that this threat would bring the money. 
They, however, paid no heed to it. 

The booty was now divided. The pirates were 
bitterly disappointed in finding that the whole esti- 
mated value amounted to but about two million 



358 SIR HENRY MORGAN. • 

dollars. Probably ten times that sum, which they 
could not remo\se, had been destroyed in their rapa- 
city. Every man had expected at least ten thousand 
dollars. When they found that but one thousand 
was their share they were greatly enraged. This 
pittance was scarcely sufficient for the carouse of a 
single week. 

Loud and threatening murmurs rose from nearly 
all lips. They accused Morgan of cheating them. 
The consummate knave with great adroitness had 
done so. Many of his men had conspired against 
him. With far greater ability he was now conspir- 
ing against them. He had taken a few into his con- 
fidence to share the spoil which they were to steal 
from the rest. The common sailors had no idea of 
the value of diamonds and other precious stones. 
His partisans bought them up at not one hundreth 
part of their real value. Massive bars of gold were 
easily concealed. 

Morgan endeavored to engross the attention of 
his men in plundering, burning, and destroying 
Chagres. While apparently his whole force, in 
the delirium of intoxication, were engaged in this 
work, Morgan and his accomplices repaired on 
board the ships, quietly in the night weighed anchor, 
and taking advantage of a fair wind, before the morn- 
ing were out of sight with all their treasure. Their 



THE RETURN FROM PANAMA. 359 

dupes, consisting of nearly one-half of the piratic 
crew, were left on the shore amid the ruins, without 
food', without a boat, without shelter, in utter desti- 
tution. What ultimately became of them is not 
known. Probably some starved ; some were shot by 
the Spaniards ; some were caught and hung. " Ven- 
geance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord." 

We have no more details respecting the final 
career of this very able, sagacious, and infamous man. 
We simply know that he reached Jamaica in posses- 
sion of an immense fortune. There he was honored 
as one of the great men of his age. Charles II., King 
of England, whose accomplice he is said to have 
been in his piracies, rewarded him for his achieve- 
ments, appointed him governor of the island, and 
conferred upon him the honors of a baronetcy. We 
know not when he died. But we do know that, how- 
ever Sir Henry Morgan may have escaped the pen- 
alty of his sins in this world, he has long ago appeared 
before the tribunal of that God " who will render to 
every man according to his deeds." 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

Montbar the Fanatic. 

Partial Solution of a Mystery. — Montbar's Birth. — His Education and 
Delusions. — Anecdote of the Dramatic Performance. — Montbar 
Runs Away from Home. — Enters the Navy. — His Ferocious Ex- 
ploits. — Joins the Buccaneers. — Desperate Battles on the Land 
and on the Sea. — His Final Disappearance. 

In reading the narrative of the cruelties practised 
by the pirates up'on the Spaniards, the mind is often 
oppressed with the thought that a God of infinite 
love and power should have allowed such scenes to 
have been enacted. There is nothing conceivable, 
in intense and protracted torture, which was not 
inflicted upon men, women, and children. There is 
no satisfactory explanation of this great mystery of 
earth. Still there are considerations which may 
perhaps point in the direction of a solution. 

The pirates seem to have been permitted to 
revenge upon the Spaniards the awful sufferings 
which they had inflicted upon the Indians. The 
Spanish armies of Cortez and Pizarro ravaged the 
homes of the innocent native inhabitants of those 
countries with ferocity and cruelty which Satan and 



MONTBAR THE FANATIC. 361 

his legions could not possibly have surpassed. The 
Spaniards had thrown the Indian into the flames 
of the most awful misery. And then God allowed 
the pirate to throw the Spaniard into the same 
flames. 

There was a celebrated pirate by the name of 
Montbar, who seemed to have been inspired with 
fanatical frenzy approaching maniacal fury against 
the whole Spanish nation. He was the child of one 
of the most opulent and respected families in Lan- 
guedoc, in France. He had received all the advan- 
tages of education which wealth could afford. In 
the process of this education he had read the account 
of the atrocities practised by the Spaniards in their 
conquest of the islands and the continents of th£ 
New World. 

The blood of this ardent young man seemed to 
boil in his veins, while pondering these fiend-like 
crimes. As a child he brooded over these tortures 
until he became almost insane. Soon he devoted 
himself to all martial exercises, that he might avenge 
the wrongs of the Indians. This generous but 
cruel determination grew rapidly into monomania. 
The animal forces of a mind of unusual energy were 
all concentrated in this direction. Revenge for the 
wrongs practised upon the Cubans, the Peruvians, 
the Mexicans occupied his thoughts by day and 
16 



362 MONTBAR THE FANATIC. 

his dreams by night. This became the all-absorb- 
ing passion of his soul. 

Even when a child, practising with his cross-bow, 
he said, " I wish to shoot well, only that I may 
know how to kill the Spaniards." George W. 
Thornbury, in his sketch of this singular man, allud- 
ing to the Spanish enormities in the New World, 
writes : 

" Fanaticism, avarice, and ambition had ruled like 
a trinity of devils, over the beautiful regions deso- 
lated and plague-smitten by the Spaniards. Whole 
nations had become extinct. The name of Christ 
was polluted into the mere cipher of an armed and 
aggressive commerce. These books had impressed 
the gloomy boy with a deep, absorbing, fanatical 
hatred of the conquerors, and a fierce pity for the 
conquered. 

" He believed himself marked out by God, as the 
Gideon sent to their relief. Dreams of riches and 
gratified ambition spurred him unconsciously to 
the task. He thought and dreamed of nothing but 
the murdered Indians. He inquired eagerly from 
travellers for news from America, and- testified pro- 
digious and ungovernable joy when he heard that 
the Spaniards had been defeated by the Caribs and 
the Bravos. 

" He indeed knew by heart every deed of atro- 



THE DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE. 363 

city that history recorded of his enemies, and would 
dilate upon each one, with a rude and impatient 
eloquence. The following story he was frequently 
accustomed to relate, and to gloat over with a look 
that indicated a mind capable of even greater cruelty, 
if once led away by a fanatic spirit of retaliation. 

" ' A Spaniard,' the story ran, ' was once upon 
a time appointed governor of an Indian province, 
which was inhabited by a fierce and warlike race of 
savages. He proved a cruel governor, unforgiving 
in his resentments, and insatiable in his avarice. 
The Indians, unable any longer to endure either his 
barbarities or his exactions, seized him, and showing 
him gold, told him that they had at last been able, 
by great good luck, to find enough to satisfy his de- 
mands. They then held him firm, and melting the 
ore, poured it down his throat, till he expired in tor- 
ments under their hands.' " 

The peculiarities of this young man were sin- 
gularly exhibited on one occasion, which showed 
that his mental operations were so deranged that he 
could not calmly reflect upon anything connected 
with the Spanish nation. At one of the college 
exhibitions, a comedy was to be enacted by the 
students, in which Montbar was to take a part. 
During the performance there was a dialogue to 
take place between a Spaniard and a Frenchman, 



364 MONTBAR THE FANATIC. 

Montbar represented the Frenchman, and one of his 
companions the Spaniard. 

The Spaniard appeared first upon the stage, and 
began to utter a tirade of extravagancies against 
France, denouncing and ridiculing the French in 
unmeasured terms. Montbar listened, with ever- 
increasing excitement, until he lost all self-control. 
The mimic scene in his mind became a reality. In 
a perfect fury he broke upon the stage ; assailed 
the representative Spaniard like a maniac ; called 
him a liar and a murderer; knocked him down, and 
would inevitably have killed him, had he not been 
dragged away by the terrified bystanders. 

The boy developed a very active and powerful 
mind, and his wealthy father was very proud of him. 
His eccentricities did not alarm him, as he thought 
that contact with the world would soon remove 
them all. He wished his son to study some pro- 
fession. But Montbar insisted upon entering the 
army. " I wish to learn to fight," said he, " that I 
may kill the Spaniards." 

As his friends opposed his entering the army, he 
ran away from home, and found his way to Havre. 
Here he had an uncle who was in command of one of 
the king's ships. France was then at war with Spain. 
The ship was just entering upon a cruise against the 
Spaniards. The uncle, pleased with the enthusiasm 



FEROCIOUS EXPLOITS. 365 

of the boy, and with the intensity of his desire to 
join the expedition, wrote to the father, and obtain- 
ed his reluctant consent. In a few days the ship 
sailed. 

The young fanatic kept a constant watch for the 
foe, evincing the most intense eagerness for an en- 
gagement. The moment any sail appeared, he 
armed himself, and seemed overjoyed with the 
thought that he might soon wreak vengeance on the 
Spaniards. At length, a Spanish ship appeared. 
Soon they met and exchanged broadsides. Mont- 
bar was quite intoxicated with joy. He was per- 
fectly reckless. Not a thought of danger entered his 
mind. When the order was given to board, Mont- 
bar, sabre in hand, led the party, and was the first 
to leap on board the Spanish ship. He seemed to 
bear a charmed life, and to be endowed with her- 
culean strength. He sought no assistance from his 
comrades, but plunged into the thickest of the 
enemy, hewing on his right hand and his left, with 
marvellous strength. Twice he rushed from end to 
end of the vessel, mowing down all who opposed 
him. He would give no quarter. 

The Spaniards were overpowered. Their slaugh- 
ter was awful. Montbar, dreaming that he was 
God's appointed minister of vengeance, was in an 
ecstasy of exultation, as he cut down some, ran his 



366 MONTBAR THE FANATIC. 

sabre through the heart of others, and drove others 
into the sea. His spirit inspired the rest. Nearly 
every Spaniard was killed. His uncle succeeded in 
saving one or two. 

The prize was found to be of immense value. 
The hold was crammed with riches. There was 
one casket of diamonds of almost priceless worth. 
While the captain and the crew were examining 
these treasures, and rejoicing over them, Montbar 
regarded them with entire indifference. He was 
counting the dead. Blood, not plunder, was what 
his soul craved. 

As there was now war between France and Spain, 
the French buccaneers, even when acting without 
any formal commission, were regarded by the Gov- 
ernment as engaged in legitimate warfare. The buc- 
caneers of England, robbing Spanish commerce and 
Spanish colonies, were encouraged and aided by the 
French navy. The conflict we have described took 
place near the shores of St. Domingo. Montbar's 
uncle learned, from his prisoners, that the ship he 
had captured had been separated by a storm from 
two others, and that they were bound to Port Mar- 
got on the island. 

He immediately sailed to the vicinity of that 
port, where he kept watch. The vessel he had cap- 
tured was used as a decoy. He placed French sol- 



JOINS THE BUCCANEERS. 367 

diers on board, unfurled the flag of Spain, and stood 
off and on, waiting the arrival of the two vessels. 
While thus on the watch, some buccaneers, from the 
shore, came on board in canoes, with provisions to 
sell. They had been wrecked upon the coast ; and 
while a part of their number had been at a distance 
from the camp hunting, the Spaniards had fallen 
upon them, put them to flight, and plundered their 
stores. 

" Why do you suffer this ? " exclaimed Montbar, 
indignantly. 

" We do not mean to suffer it," they replied. 
" We know what the Spaniards are, and what our 
power is. We are collecting our forces, and will 
soon take signal vengeance upon them." 

" Let me go* with you," said Montbar. " I do 
not ask to be your leader, but I will go at your head. 
I will be the first to expose myself, and will show 
you how I can fight these accursed Spaniards." 

Gladly they accepted his offer. His ardor and 
energy inspired them with great confidence in him. 
His uncle very reluctantly allowed him to go, curs- 
ing him as a foolish, hair-brained madcap, ever eager 
to push his head into danger. Yet the uncle was 
very proud of him. As young Montbar descended 
the side of the ship into a canoe, the captain said 



368 MONTBAR THE FANATIC. 

exultingly to one at his side, " There goes as brave 
a lad as ever trod a plank." 

The buccaneers returned to their camp, and im- 
mediately, in a strong war-party, set out in search 
of the Spaniards. They threaded intricate paths 
through the woods, until they opened upon a small 
treeless prairie, which they called a savanna. Just 
before entering this field, which was surrounded by 
hills and woods, they saw, in the distance, a mount- 
ed party of Spaniards who were evidently on the 
march to attack them. 

Montbar was transported with rage at the sight 
of the Spaniards. He was ready, single-handed, to 
rush upon them at once — he alone, against several 
hundred, regardless whether the others followed him 
or not. But an old, experienced buccaneer, who led 
the party, held him back. 

" Stop," said he ; " there is plenty of time. If 
you do as I tell you, not one of those fellows shall 
escape." 

These words, " Not one of those fellows shall 
escape," arrested the impetuous young man. The 
buccaneers halted, pretending not to have seen the 
Spaniards. They allowed one or two of their num- 
ber to exhibit themselves, as if belonging to a hunt- 
ing party. They then pitched their tent of linen, 
apparently entirely unconscious that they were near 



DESPERATE BATTLES. 369 

any foe. Drawing out their brandy-flasks, they 
feigned a great revel, singing songs, shouting, and 
passing the flasks from one to another, as if in the 
wildest of drunken bouts. This was done by a small 
portion of the company, while most of the buccaneers 
were hidden in ambush. 

The Spaniards, having secreted themselves, 
watched all these movements. They supposed that 
the buccaneers, stupefied with drink, would ere long 
fall helplessly asleep. The Spaniards would then 
creep cautiously upon them, and kill them all. But 
the cunning old buccaneer had taken good care that 
the brandy-flasks should all be empty. Not a single 
drop of intoxicating drink had the feigned revellers 
taken. 

As soon as darkness veiled the scene the bucca- 
neers all assembled in ambuscade, anticipating a mid- 
night attack. Every musket was in order, and their 
brains were cool and uninflamed with drink. The 
Spaniards delayed their attack until daylight. As 
the hours lingered away, Montbar was restless, and 
chafed like a caged lion, saying that they would never 
come, and imploring permission to march out and 
attack them. 

At daybreak the buccaneers discerned a dark 
line moving noiselessly over the ridge, and descend- 
ing into the plain. They knew full well what this 
16* 



37° MONTBAR THE FANATIC. 

meant. Every movement was watched by the 
ambushed buccaneers. Cautiously the Spaniards 
advanced. They crossed the prairie, and entered 
the forest, intending to encircle the tent, which they 
supposed held the sleeping buccaneers. 

Suddenly the woods seemed to burst into vol- 
canic flame. The report of the musketry was fol- 
lowed with shout and yell, and the storm of lead 
swept through the ranks of the Spaniards, striking 
down scores, either in death or grievously wound- 
ed. The buccaneers rushed instantaneously upon 
their bewildered, staggered, bleeding foe. Montbar 
seemed animated bydemonaical frenzy. He rushed 
upon the Spaniards in utter recklessness, regard- 
less of their numbers, or of the support he should 
receive from his comrades. His heavy sabre flashed 
in all directions, as if wielded by tireless sinews of 
steel. 

Soon he was quite in advance of his companions, 
and was alone in the very thickest of the Spanish 
squadron. He would inevitably have been cut 
down, had not the other buccaneers, astonished at 
his audacity, rushed to his rescue. Montbar's sword 
was dripping with blood. He was in a frenzy of 
joy. Every blow he struck cut down a Spaniard. 
He exulted in the carnage, and ever after declared 
that this was the happiest day of his life. One 



DESPERATE BATTLES. 37 1 

wounded Spaniard clung to his knee begging for 
mercy. Montbar brought down his sabre upon his 
head, splitting it from crown to chin, fiercely ex- 
claiming, " I wish that you were the last of this 
accursed race." An eye-witness of the battle de- 
scribes the carnage as horrible. Nearly every Span- 
iard was destroyed. The victors, all absorbed in 
their bloody work, stumbled over the dying and the 
dead, deaf to every cry for mercy. 

The buccaneers were astonished and delight- 
ed by the prowess which Montbar had displayed. 
They entreated him to remain and become their 
captain. But a signal gun, fired by his uncle, called 
him back to the ship. Montbar was placed as 
captain on board the large ship which his uncle had 
captured. Many of the pirates eagerly engaged to 
serve under him. 

After a sail of eight days these two vessels en- 
countered four Spanish war-ships, each one larger 
than either of those commanded by Montbar or his 
uncle. One of the most desperate of naval battles 
ensued. The elder Montbar was attacked by two 
of the ships. For three hours they struggled, grap- 
pled together, receiving and giving the most terrible 
broadsides. At last the three sank together in one 
watery grave. The uncle, it is said, rejoicing to drag 
the two other ships with him, went down laughing. 



372 MONTBAR THE FANATIC. 

Montbar, with his crashing shot, succeeded at 
length in sinking one of the ships assailing him, 
and then he boarded the other. The terror-stricken 
crew threw themselves into the water. The floating 
bodies presented targets for the buccaneers. No 
quarter was shown. Montbar rushed up and down 
the decks killing all he could reach. His courage 
and accomplishments were so marvellous, that his 
comrades regarded him with superstitious reverence, 
as endowed with more than mortal powers. He 
himself ever averred that he Was God's appointed 
messenger, to avenge the wrongs the Spaniards had 
inflicted upon the Indians. It is not known that a 
single individual escaped from these four Spanish 
ships. 

Montbar had now two vessels at his command. 
He engaged many other buccaneers in his service, 
and soon had an army of nearly eight hundred men 
ready to follow him to the death. He swept the 
seas, and, often landing, ravaged the coasts. We 
have no detailed account of his subsequent career. 
One of his biographers writes : 

" And this completes all that history has preserved 
of one of the strangest combinations of fanatic and 
soldier that has ever appeared since the days of Lo- 
yola. In another age, and under other circumstances, 
he might have been a second Mohammed. Equally 



HIS DISAPPEARANCE. 373' 

remorseless, his ambition, though narrower, seems 
to have been no less fervid. If he was cruel, we must 
allow him to have been sincere even in his fanaticism. 
Daring, untiring, of unequalled courage and un- 
matched resolution, the cruelty of the Spaniards he 
put down by greater cruelty. He passes from us 
into unknown seas, and we hear of him no more. He 
died probably unconscious of crime, unpitying and 
unpitied. 

" Oexemelin, who saw Montbar at Honduras, 
describeshim as active, vivacious, and full of fire, 
like all the Gascons. He was of tall stature, erect 
and firm, his air grand, noble, martial. His complex- 
ion was sunburnt, and the color of his eyes could not 
be discerned under the deep, arched vaulting of his 
bushy eyebrows. His very glance in battle was said 
to intimidate the Spaniards, and to drive them to 
despair." 



THE END. 



WJ& 



fllfl 



